WATER CRESS 



8i 



stage lasts from May to July and .\LiL;ust. It is a herbaceous perennial, 

 increasing by seeds as well as by division. 



Two green, fleshy honey-glands arc hidden on the inner side of the 

 base of each short stamen. The shorter anthers open towards the 

 stigma, which overtops them. The taller stamens stand at fu'st on 

 a level with the stigma, but are afterwards overtopped by it, and open 

 towards the shorter stamens. The bee visiting the flower touches the 

 stigma and the pollen-covered faces cf 3 of the anthers (i short, 2 long). 



Photo, i'ialtcrs & Ganiclt 



W.MER Cress [Rudiciila .\nsliirfiiiiii (ujuiilicttiu, Rcndle and Britten) 



When the weather is adverse, self-pollination is effected b) the longer 

 anthers. 



Water Cress is one of the numerous plants dispersed by its own 

 agency. The seeds are dispersed by tension of the valves, the seeds 

 being rounded and flattened lengthwise. 



it is a Hydrophyte and aquatic, and when growing on land j)refers 

 a sand soil, or sandy loam, or river- valley alluvium, free from peat. It 

 may grow in the reed swam[) in the sul)merged or half-submerged leaf- 

 association. 



Water Cress is galled by Cecidoniyia sisynibrii. No fungi infest it 



Viii.. IV. 52 



