160 THE BOG. 



Among the most beautiful of bog-plants, (for 

 beautiful flowers are to be found even here,) are the 

 minute Radiola, shaped like a shrub, and bearing 

 from twenty to a hundred or more flowers, yet 

 rarely attaining the height of two inches ; the pink 

 Pimpernel,* forming as beautiful an ornament of 

 this unsightly region, as the scarlet Pimpernel does 

 in the rich pasture land ; Buck -bean, f choosing 

 always to grow in places where he may display his 

 elegant pink buds, and his petals beautifully fringed 

 with white filaments, in contrast with dingy water 

 or liquid mud; and lastly, every body's friend, 

 the blue " Forget-me-not," J reminding us, whe- 

 ther we see it here, on the river's bank, or fring- 

 ing the stream by the road-side, of the loved and 

 absent. 



In ponds we may frequently see, in the month of 

 May, a profusion of bright green three-lobed leaves, 

 interspersed with glossy-white flowers, all floating 

 on the surface of the water. This is the Water 

 Crow-foot, and is worthy of note, not only for 

 the pretty showiness of its flowers, but on account 

 of the singular form of its leaves. It grows very 

 frequently in those parts of rivers which, though 

 well supplied with water during winter, are in sum- 

 mer liable to be deserted by the running stream 

 and converted into ponds. Plants which flower 

 just above the surface of the water, the white and 

 yellow Water-lilies, for example, are supported by 

 spreading leaves sufficiently buoyant to sustain the 

 whole plant. Now, it is evident that a submersed 

 plant, furnished with such leaves, and growing in 



* Anagallis tenella. t Menyanthes trlfoliata. 



J Myosotis palustris. Ranunculus aquatilis. 



