8 HALOEAGE^ 



each 2-lobed; fruit of four 1 -seeded carpels. Name in Greek signifying 

 beautiful hair, from the hair-like roots. 



1. Mare's-tail {Ilippuris). 



Common Mare's-tail {H. vulgaris). — Leaves linear andwhorled; stem 

 erect, jointed, without branches. Plant perennial. This singular plant would 

 not fail to attract notice when abundant, as it often is in ponds and ditches. 

 It grows frequently also on the borders of slow streams, especially such as have 

 a gravelly base. It is tall and slender, rising ten or twelve inches above the 

 water, and very well deserving its common French name of Pin d'ecm, or the 

 no less expressive German one of Schaftholm. The flowers are inconspicuous, 

 small and green, appearing in May and June close to the stem, in the angles 

 which it forms with the short whorled leaves. This is remarkable as being 

 one of the simplest of herbaceous plants, sometimes having a mere rim for its 

 calyx, having no petals, and but one stamen, one pistil, and one seed. When 

 the plant has flowered it sinks down and dies, and its stems and leaves form 

 a mass at the bottom of the water. 



Like many another aquatic plant, the Mare's-tail has its uses, not alone 

 to water animals, as the freshwater snails and insects, not only to the wild 

 ducks and water-fowls which hail it as a welcome repast, but also to man. 

 It renders the neighbourhood of stagnant water less prejudicial to human 

 health, by absorbing a great quantity of noxious gas, thus serving to purify 

 an atmosphere rendered putrid by the exhalations of the pool. In deep 

 water it attains considerable luxuriance, and is sometimes three feet in height. 



There is no other plant with which the Mare's-tail could possibly be con- 

 founded, save some of the horse-tails, those allies of the ferns, and many of 

 which abound in moist places. It is, however, essentially distinct, for the 

 horse-tails have no flowers, and bear their fructification in cones or catkins at 

 the tops of their stems or branches. Their leaves, too, are longer and more 

 rigid, those of this herb being short and clear, with a thick strong vein running 

 up the centre. The Dutch call this plant Kattestail, and the Italians term it 

 Ippuride. 



2. Water Milfoil {Myriophjlhm). 



1. Whorled Water Milfoil {M. verticilldhim). — Flowers all whorled, 

 having bracts at their base, cut into slender segments, and longer than the 

 flowers. Plant perennial. This aquatic can boast no brightness of corolla, its 

 greenish petals being too small to attract observation. It is, however, very 

 pretty in its greenness, and in the graceful form and movement of its feathery 

 leaf -like bracts, which lie like green threads in the water, and are swept down- 

 wards if perchance a wind stirs up a current in the still pool. The plant well 

 merits its name of Myriad-leaf, as well as its German name of Fenderhall. 

 The French call it Volant d'eau, and the Dutch Federkruid. The Milfoil is 

 common in many of the pools and ditches of Europe ; and this species is 

 frequent in such places throughout England and Wales. Mr. Backhouse 

 found a Milfoil growing with some of the pond-weeds (Potamogefon) in the 

 waters of New South Wales, and believed it to be identical with the English 

 species. 



