PEPPERWORTS 167 
roots of plants and the lower leaves are generally sprinkled with glittering 
specks of mica. “So general,” says this writer, “is the diffusion of this 
‘micaceous earth through Scotland, that we have found the roots of Jsoétes 
lacistris, digged up from the bottom of Loch Lomond, partaking of this 
tribute from the mountains, though in an inferior degree to a truly alpine 
plant.” 
The Quillwort occurs in the marshy lands and waters of several parts of 
Europe, and seems more abundant in Sweden and Denmark than elsewhere. - 
In France the plant is called L’Jsote des étangs, and in Germany Der Brachsem- 
farrn. Mr. Gardner, when in Brazil, collected, from a marsh by the side of 
a river, specimens of a Quillwort which appeared to be identical with the 
British species, and adds: ‘‘The sight of this plant recalled pleasing recollec- 
tions of long-past times, and I could not refrain from indulging in a 
lengthened train of reflection, which ended by comparing it with myself— 
a stranger in a strange land, and associated with still stranger companions.” 
The Quillwort occurs also in the northern parts of North America. 
To those unacquainted with the plant, its long quill-like leaves would 
seem, when growing in the water, to be those of some kind of grass, which 
by its ready growth was quite filling up the pool. It abounds in some of 
the lakes of Denbighshire, and in those of Llanberis; and at Rydal and the 
other Westmoreland lakes, and in waters near Coxwold, in Yorkshire, as 
well as at Prestwich Carr in Northumberland, it has long been known and 
admired for the beauty and greenness which it gives to the still waters. It 
is found at an elevation of 2,000 feet in the Highlands. 
At the base of the long awl-shaped leaves of this singular plant is a 
roundish corm, which is brown and spongy on the outside, but is, within, 
white and firm. From these tubers descend a number of long, tubular, 
somewhat pellucid roots, which are sometimes forked at their extremities. 
Some botanists have eaten these tubers when young, and consider them to 
be perfectly innocuous, though having an earthy flavour. The leaves, which 
arise from the crown of the tuber, are of a somewhat olive-green colour, very 
brittle, and from four to seven inches long ; they are dilated at the base, and 
clasp around the inner leaves, and their margin is membranaceous. The 
upper part of the leaf is nearly round, and formed of four hollow tubes, 
separated from each other by the transverse partitions, which give to the 
- plant its jointed appearance. They taper at the upper part into a sharp 
point. It is within these broad bases of the leaves that the fructification 
lies concealed. The capsules are round and hard. Some of them contain 
roundish bodies, which finally separate into three triangular valves. The 
other set of capsules contains extremely minute pollen-like spores. 
There are two forms of this Quillwort found in our waters; one—the 
type—having leaves slender, erect, and densely tufted, the other (I. echinospora), 
having them thicker, shorter, paler, and more spreading ; but whether these 
are distinct species, or whether their variation is referable to some accidental 
circumstance in the conditions of their growth, seems uncertain. 
The Quillwort cannot always be easily gathered by botanists, though in 
some ponds fish root it up, and leave portions of it at the edge of the water. 
They are said to feed upon the plant. It is also most eagerly devoured by 
