WATER VIOLET 27 



anthers are yellow, the style tapers, and is longer than the anthers, and 

 the stigma is simple. It is not likely to be self- pollinated owing to the 

 projection of the stigma. 



The capsule splits up transversely allowing the seeds to fall out 

 around the parent plant. 



The Bog Pimpernel is a peat-loving plant, and requires a peaty soil. 



The second Latin name refers to its slender trailing or creeping 

 stems. It is known by the name of Bog Pimpernel and Moneywort. 

 It is a pretty flower and quite worthy of a place in our rock-gardens 

 and bog-pools. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



206. Anagallis tenella, Murr. Stem procumbent, leaves round, 

 shortly stalked, ovate, not dotted, flowers pink, in the axils, solitary, 

 filaments united below, corolla infundibuliform. 



Water Violet (Hottonia palustris, L.) 



This local, but widely -dispersed aquatic, once known in the 

 London area, is generally found in the Northern Temperate Zone 

 in Europe, except in Spain, Greece, and Turkey, and Western 

 Siberia. In Great Britain it is found in the Peninsula province in 

 Somerset; in the Channel province, in S. Wilts, Dorset, N. Hants, 

 Sussex; throughout the Thames province and Anglia; in the Severn 

 province, not in Gloucs, Monmouth, Hereford; in Wales, only in Car- 

 narvon, Denbigh, Flint, Anglesea; but throughout the Trent, Mersey, 

 and Humber provinces; in Durham and Westmorland, from which last 

 it ranges to the south coast. It is found in Down in Ireland. 



Water Violet is an aquatic plant, which is local but uniform in its 

 habitat, frequenting the larger tracts of water in England and Wales, 

 especially where still but not stagnant pools exist. It used to be found 

 in Battersea Meadows, but is extinct there owing to drainage, and its 

 occurrence is much more restricted than formerly. It is also a marsh 

 plant, growing in wet, peaty hollows. There is no doubt that it was 

 originally terrestrial, and that it has but recently adopted an aquatic 

 habitat. 



Water Violet is a floating plant, with fine, white, capillary roots, 

 which penetrate deep into the mud. The aerial stem is a scape, and 

 leafless. The leaves are not perfect whorls, submerged, with leaflets 

 each side of a common stalk, in tufts, and prostrate. 



The flowers are white, lilac, or pale-purple, and borne in whorls, 

 stalked, growing on a long-stalked scape, which is naked and smooth. 



