AMONG THE WILD FLOWERS. 195 
pools, of which it is liable to take almost exclu- 
sive possession. The long dark stems of the 
Bulrush might be compared to a dense aquatic 
forest of leafless trees, whose undergrowth of 
flowering shrubs is substituted by the bright 
gay blue flowers of the Forget-me-not, or Great 
Water Scorpion-Grass, JZyosotis palustris, va- 
ried by the densely-flowered panicles of the 
White Water-Bedstraw, Galzune palustre; and, 
if the water is slow, with the erect and branch- 
ing stems of the Great Water-Plantain, Al/zsma 
plantago. This plant rises several feet from 
the root, and at the end of each peduncle has a 
small white or pale purplish flower; its broad 
leaves have long erect stalks, all springing from 
the root ; it is one of the ALISMACE&. 
Another of this Order, a beautiful ornament 
of the water, and capable of breasting a rather 
rapid stream, is the Arrow-head, Sagzttarza 
sagittifolia ; it bears a spike of white flowers, 
3 in a whorl, and the leaves which, like 
those of the Water-Plantain, spring from the 
root are remarkably arrow-shaped, sagzttate, 
the three divisions of the leaf being nearly 
equal. The flowers are moneecious, the male 
with many stamens, the female with many 
