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AQUATIC PLANTS OF FRESHWATER 
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Columbia and North Carolina. It is a 
submerged creeping plant which developes 
rootlets on the lower part of the weak and 
flexible stems, having the bright-green 
submerged leaves opposite in pairs, finely 
dissected and fanlike in appearance, with 
small entire oblong-linear emersed leaves 
which appear when the plant blossoms. 
The small flowers are white with two 
yellow spots at the base of each of the 4 to 
6 petals and with 4 to 6 stamens and 3 or 
4 persistent sepals. The fruit is enclosed 
in a prickly pod with one seed in each 
cavity. 
Cambomba rosefolia (Hort.) or Red- 
Stalked Watershield is a species similar to 
C. caroliniana but of a darker green color 
on the upper surface of the submerged 
leaves and the under surface a delicate 
Ny) pinkish-red. The stems are purplish-red 
A Vidz and the flowers yellow with white stamens. 
—S It is a beautiful aquarium plant which re- 
FEY Ns tains its fine colors only in plentiful direct 
(C= wr 
Ss sunlight, and is not as hardy as the first- 
FIG. 113. Fanwort, Cabumba caroliniana, 
floral leaves, blossoms and fruit. 
Reduced one-third. 




named species, thriving best when set into 
soil covered with pebbles. 
Cabomba aquatica (Aubl.) or Tropical Watershield is a native tropical 
American species which has been introduced into the United States. It 
is of pale yellowish-green color, delicate and of handsome growth, as the 
fanshaped leaves are fuller and more spread and the joints closer to each 
other than in the other species. The floating floral leaves are nearly 
orbicular and the flowers yellow with pink stamens. 
In the aquarium Cabomba will sometimes root but thrives as well 
when the stems are cleared of leaves a little distance at the ends and set 
into the sand or pebbles. Propagation is usually by pinching off pieces 
which will soon grow to considerable length, as at the joints along the 
stem rootlets will be projected which floating in the water sustain the 
plant. All the Cabombas are excellent oxygenators, and thrive in the 
household aquarium. They are offered by dealers bound in bundles with 
block-tin fastenings which serve as a weight to retain the plant in a natural 
upright position in the water, but it is advisable to separate them, planting 
187 
