Reconquest of the Water 



cuius flammula), Epilobium palustre, the common Iris, 

 and several grasses. 



Then when these marsh plants or rushes have dried 

 up the ground sufficiently, willows, alder, and birch 

 may manage to grow, and in the process of time form 

 small waterside plantations. 



The water-lily zone is not perhaps of very much im- 

 portance, though it is the most beautiful of them all. 

 The stem of the white water-lily is a great, curved, thick, 

 fleshy affair, from which the long-stalked leaves and 

 flowers are given off. Friih records a stem 6 feet long 

 and 10 centimetres in diameter, of which pieces were 

 sold in the public market at Uster as a charm against 

 cramp. The Victoria Regia of the Amazon, whose leaves 

 may be 60 feet across and can bear a weight of 60 

 kilogrammes (132 lbs.), is the finest of the series. 



The depths usually affected by these plants and their 

 neighbouring associations are nearly as follows : — 



The mosses shown in the last column seem to be able 

 to grow at the greatest depths. Those small greenish 

 grey Algae, the Characeae, have been found at depths 

 even of 90 feet, but they are not usually found when a 



132 



