THE AQUARIUM, JANUARY, 1893. 



29 



«alled by the Chippewas Wab-esi-pin- 

 ig or swan potatoes, a name which has 

 been naturally appropriated to several 

 streams in that region. Wabesipinicon, 

 meaning the abode of the swan potato 

 {Owen's Survey of the N. W.). 



From the foregoing extracts it will 

 be seen how universally they have been 

 employed to assist in the maintenance 

 of the human family, and probably we 

 know very little yet how extensively 

 they have been emiDloyed in North 

 America. 



We have collected them from a great 

 many localities in Ohio, Indiana and 

 Illinois, and find in early spring a solid, 

 brittle, tuberous corm, down deep in 

 the earth, being the germ from which 

 the plant starts in spring. From the 

 corm, at the first approach of warm 

 weather, starts a large, porous root- 

 stock, reaching up to near the surface 

 of the earth, and there throws out in- 

 numerable fibrous roots, which is the 

 true crown from which sj^ring the 

 leaves, flowers and stolons, and is also 

 the plant centre during summer. By 

 the 1st of June the milky juice (starch 

 or saccharine, etc.) has usually been 

 absorbed by the new growth of the 

 plant, and the corm is then a soft and 

 flexible, or spongy mass, reminding one 

 of a sprouted and growing potato, 

 while by the middle of July or 1st of 

 August we would not find any corm, 

 but found decayed masses which we 

 were reasonably certain were the re- 

 mains of the former corms. 



In addition to tuberous and fibrous 

 roots, the sagittaria present the feature 

 of producing stolojis or long, creeping 

 roots, just below the surface of the 

 earth. They start from the stem, and 

 usually from just above the fibrous 

 roots, and creep out horizontally from 

 the jilant in all directions. We do not 



now recall a single genus of plants that 

 present so many different forms of de- 

 velopment in each plant as the sagitta- 

 ria. First, the roots are of three 

 entirely distinct forms, the tuberous, 

 fibrous and stoloniferous. Next, the 

 leaves are sometimes phyllodic (sub- 

 merged and riband-like), others are an 

 elliptical, erect blade, upon a tall, 

 round, or slightly angular stem, and 

 lastly, the leaf developed into its true 

 form — arrow-shaped. Again, let us 

 look at the flower ; the lower ones are 

 usually fertile, producing seed to per- 

 petuate its kind, while the upper ones 

 are sterile and barren, or each flower 

 stock producing bowers with the sexes 

 separate and still on the same stock. 



The flowers are borne on long, leaf- 

 less, branched stems, well above the 

 foliage, with pure white petals and a 

 yellow centre (stamens), usually single, 

 but occasionally ^S*. sagittaefolia and S. 

 variabilis, var. latifolia, have been 

 found growing wild with double flow- 

 ers. European nurserymen offer these 

 varieties now for sale. 



Sagittaria natans and <S'. lanciolata 

 soon became favorites of American and 

 European aquarists. For growing in 

 an aquarium we find few plants better 

 suited, and for a fountain, small lake 

 or pond, it has few equals. In their 

 natural condition they are found grow- 

 ing in soft, muddy or sandy ground, 

 consequently the conditions for a suc- 

 cessful cultivation must be continued, 

 viz. : grown in soft, loamy soil, \yhile, 

 if for pot or tub culture, a layer of 

 coarse sand or small pebbles in the 

 bottom of the tub is always desirable for 

 all kinds of aquatic plants ; at the same 

 time a layer of clean, fine sand, spread 

 over the top of the soil, not only looks 

 bright and cheerful, but very materi- 

 ally assists in purifying the water. Of 



