FLOWERING RUSH 155 



into the water, in which they do not sink but germinate in the mud 

 at the side, the plant being dispersed by currents and by its own 

 agency. 



Arrow-head is aquatic, and a peat- or clay-loving plant. 



This choice plant is infested by two fungi, ^Ecidium incarceration 

 and Doassansia sagittaria. A beetle, Galeruca sagittarice, is found on it. 



Sagittaria, Lobel, is from the Latin sagitta, an arrow, and the 

 second Latin name also refers to the arrow-shaped leaves. 



Arrow-head is called Adder's Tongue, Water Archer, Arrow-head. 

 As to the second name Gerarde says, " Because it is good to pull out 

 arrows " by Doctrine of Signatures! and as to the last he says, " Hath 

 large and long leaves, in shape like the signe Sagittarius, or rather 

 like a bearded broad arrowe-heade ". 



The rhizome is bulbous, and has been used as an article of food 

 in China, and here it is cultivated. 



There are 3 types of leaf. The submerged type is ribbon-like, 

 the floating leaves are oblong to heart-shaped, short, the erect, non- 

 submerged aerial leaves are arrow-shaped. The first are extremely 

 thin, and the chlorophyll granules are arranged according to the state 

 of the light; they are flat and wave about in the water. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



315. Sagittaria sagittifolia, L. Leaves on long petioles, hastate, 

 erect, submerged petioles linear, flowers white, in whorls of 3. 



Flowering Rush (Butomus umbellatus, L.) 



This beautiful species, entirely aquatic, is found to-day in the North 

 Temperate Zone in Europe, N. and W. Asia, N.W. India. It is 

 unknown in early plant beds. In Great Britain it is absent in Corn- 

 wall in the Peninsula province, but grows throughout the Channel, 

 Thames, Anglia, and Severn provinces; in S. Wales only in Glamorgan, 

 Brecon, and Pembroke; in N. Wales Carnarvon, Flint, Anglesea; 

 throughout the Trent, Mersey, and Humber provinces; in Durham 

 only in the Tyne province; in Scotland only in Mid and E. Perth. 

 Elsewhere it ranges from York and Durham to the South Coast. It is 

 naturalized in Scotland, rare in Ireland. 



The Flowering Rush is one of the pictures of aquatic vegetation, 

 which rises up in the mind's eye in recalling its main characteristics, 

 as obtained from the point of view of the most beautiful species. It 

 grows in canals, rivers, brooks, streams, and also in ponds and pools 

 indifferently, in the reed swamp. 



