248 



HINTS AND NOTES 



the fonns in the latter bi-iiig lartjiT. Kaiely 

 Water Lilies occur where the stream is wider 

 at a bend. Manna Grass is abundant, and 

 Flote (irass {Cnluhrosa aijuatica) is not un- 

 common. 



In what corresponds to the reed swamp may 

 be found Meadow Rue, Water Cn-ss, (ireat 

 Yellow Cress, Purple Loosestrife, (ireat 

 Water ChicUweed, Great Hairy Willow Herb, 

 Water Bedslraw, Fleabane, Coltsfoot, Butter- 

 bur on the banks, Scorpion Grass, Water 

 Betony, Musk, Brooklime, Mints, Gipsywort, 

 Skullcap, Yellow Flag, Bur Reed, Water 

 Plantain, Sedges, and Phalaris arundinacea. 



Ditches. — The ditch is largely artificial, and 

 thus no measure of the trueaquatic vegetation 

 of a district even on the small scale on which 

 it is developed. It is thus of relatively modern 

 date. But it is of importance as showing the 

 types of vegetation that have once flourished 

 in the district, for ditches afford the last 

 resorts of the hygrophilous types that have 

 been driven from the wet meadows, once 

 marshes, &c. ; whilst a few are relics of true 

 aquatic vegetation. 



The types of aquatic plants found in ditches 

 are restricted in character. They include 

 chiefly plants that grow in the reed swamp, 

 and in fact the whole ditch may be hlled up 

 with such plants as Marsh Marigold, Water 

 Cress, Great Water Chickweed, Great Hairy 

 and other Willow Herbs, Water Bedstraw, 

 Fleabane, Hemp Agrimony, Coltsfoot, Water 

 F-igwort, Marsh Thistle, Scorpion Grass, 

 Brooklime. In some ditches Frogbit used to 

 grow. Gipsywort may occur here and there, 

 and Amphibious Knotgrass, the terrestrial 

 riparial type. It is rarely that such large 

 plants as Yellow Flag, Phalaris arundinacea, 

 and Reed grow- in ditches, indicating vestiges 

 of more extensive aquatic vegetation. Wood 

 Club Rush is more frequent. Duckweed may 

 fill up a stagnant ditch almost entirely. Fre- 

 quently Marshwort {Sium erectuni), numerous 

 .Sedges, and some moisture-loving Grasses, as 

 Manna Grass, Poa frivialis, &c. , may be 

 found in a ditch. Starwort, and even Cana- 

 dian Waterweed, Water Violet, Milfoil, and 

 Hornvvort tnay be found in ditches of a par- 

 ticular type. 



Wet Places. — There are certain spots, 

 usually low-lying, or hollows at higher alti- 

 tudes, that preserve a type of vegetation 

 which exhibits a marked difference to that 

 of the surrounding higher and drier ground. 

 They may be the relics of former aquatic 

 vegetation, of a marsh, a bog, or a wet heath, 

 and as a whole are hvgrophilous types. They 

 m.iy differ little in general character from a 

 wet meadow, but usually contain some dis- 



tinctive species that stamp the flora as some- 

 thing more specialized. 



Their connection with aquatic vegetation is 

 clear, but they m.iy be members originally of 

 an entirely distinct formation. Such plants 

 are Meadow Rue, Lesser Spearwort, Creeping 

 Yellow Cress, Land Yellow Cress, Great 

 Yellow Cress, Hairy Bitter Cress, Bog Stitch- 

 wort, Water Blinks, Waterwort, Square-stalked 

 St. John's Wort, Great Hedge Lotus, Hyssop 

 Loosestrife, Water Purslane, True Square- 

 stalked Willow Herb, Least Marshwort, 

 Cowbane, Water Parsnip, Marsh Cudweed, 

 Bur Marigold, Meadow Thistle, Bastard 

 Pimpernel, Brookweed, Tufted Scorpion 

 Grass, Mudwort, Water Speedwell, Round- 

 leaved Mint, Peppermint, Water Germander, 

 Bistort, Water Pepper, Water Dock, Osier, 

 Loose - flowered Orchid, Marsh Orchis, 

 Spotted Orchid, Butterfly Orchid, Spring 

 -Snowflake, Loose-flowered .Soft Rush, Com- 

 mon Hard Rush, Small Capitate Rush, 

 Marsh Arrowgrass, Compressed Club Rush, 

 Brown Club Rush, Oval -headed Sedge, 

 Broad - leaved Water Sedge, Pink - leaved 

 .Sedge, Distant-spiked Sea Sedge, Cutgrass, 

 Marsh F"o.\tail, Beard Grass, Tufted Hair- 

 grass, Great Water Reed Grass, Flote Grass, 

 Greater Fescue Grass, Meadow- Barley. A 

 number of these are members of diflerent 

 formations, but all agree in requiring a moist 

 haliitat. 



The Habits of Aquatic Plants. — The great 

 difference between soil, which is a solid im- 

 mobile substratum, and water, which is a 

 liquid mobile solution, naturally enables one 

 to distinguish as a rule between a land and a 

 water plant at sight, even when the material 

 is a dried lierb.ariuni specimen, since the 

 difference in habitat is closely correlated with 

 a marked difference in habit. The chief 

 points of difference are the reduction in the 

 roots, which are long and thread-like, or 

 borne in whorls around a creeping rhizome, 

 or subaqueous stem, or even absent. 



The stems and branches also are slender, 

 herbaceous, differing in structure, and show 

 every sign of reduction, being seaweed-like 

 in habit in the case of submerged types, and 

 in erect half-submerged types seldom thick or 

 woody. The leaves differ in form, texture, 

 and arrangement, being adapted to a floating 

 or streaming habit, or of the grass type in the 

 reed swamp as a rule. Riparial types of 

 plants are most nearly akin to terrestrial 

 types. 



The flowers also are seldom brilli.-mt, and 

 are frequently reduced or apetalous, many 

 types of aquatic plants relying mainly on 

 vegetative reproduction. 



