CLASS IV. ORDER III.] 



RUPPIA. 215 



spadlx lengthens to the height of six or more inches, becoming spirally 

 twisted, by means of which the blossoms rise to the surface of the 

 water. As the germens become enlarged, their base is extended, and 

 becomes an elongated footstalk of several inches in length. The fruit 

 is oblique, acuminated, with a beak, often varying greatly in length. 

 " This drupe is sometimes more beaked than at other times, and the 

 sheaths of the leaves are sometimes but little dilated : then the plant 

 becomes R. rostellata of Koch, and Reichenbach in his Iconog. t. 174, 

 f. .306, which indeed is the more common state of the plant with us. I 

 have only seen such large sheaths as are figured for the true R. viari- 

 tima, Linn. (Reichenb. Iconog. t. 174, f. 307,) on specimens from the 

 south of Europe. Yet the latter authority quotes my figures in Flora 

 Lond. as admirably characteristic of his maritima." (Hooker.) 



Habitat. — Salt -water ditches. 



Perennial ; flowering in July and August. 



As the body, by habit and continued exercise, becomes enabled to 

 support particular conditions in life without inconvenience, in like 

 manner does the mind, by the frequent recurrence of the same object, 

 become insensible, and even truths of the most striking kind pass before 

 it without producing the least impression. We are led to make these 

 remarks from observing the importance which botanists attach to the 

 peculiar structure of the flower-stem of the above species ( R. mari- 

 tiina), which we have already said is twisted in a spiral form, and this 

 is particularly observable about the time the flower makes its first ap- 

 pearance above the surface of the water ; but this is only one of the 

 many instances that might be adduced to show the harmony and de- 

 sign displayed throughout the whole of the works of the Great Archi- 

 tect of Nature. There is, in fact, nothing more wonderful in the spiral- 

 formed flower-stem of this plant, than in that of the flower-stem of the 

 common Water Lily (Nymphcea alba), and numberless others that 

 might be mentioned. At the season of flowering, the Water Lily raises 

 its unexpanded flower upon a small cylindrical stem, and whether the 

 water be six inches or six feet deep, this stem is invariably proportioned 

 to the exact depth of the water, and ceases to elongate the moment the 

 blossom reaches the surface. Here, then, is enough to excite the ad- 

 miration of the contemplative mind. It is true the external structure 

 of the flower-stem is more simple than that of Rtippia maritima, yet it 

 is not the less adapted to the end for which it is designed. That we 

 cannot account for all the phenomena in nature, is no proof whatever 

 that vegetables, when found in their natural situations, possess one 

 appendage unnecessary to their condition, or one that could be added 

 to render them more complete. We have seen that the simple stem of 

 the Nymphcea is in every way fitted for the ofiice it has to perform ; 

 and although some might be disposed to ascribe tlie peculiarly twisted 

 stem of the Ruppia to a mere freak of Nature, we shall also see that 

 this singular structure is indispensable to the plant when in a state of 



