ALONG THE STREAM 249 



Europe, and the tropics of both Old and New 

 worlds; it is the smallest flowering plant known! 

 A disk less than a tenth of an inch in diameter 

 floats on the surface of the water, not a leaf, as 

 we might suppose, but the entire plant, with the 

 tiny rootlet which hangs below it. From the edge 

 or the upper side of this little oval, light green 

 disk, flowers, consisting of a stamen and pistil sur- 

 rounded by a tiny spathe, appear from a fissure. 

 It is generally propagated, however, by a sort of 

 bud which springs from a cleft in the edge or base 

 of the body, and usually four or five plants of vari- 

 ous sizes may be seen attached to each other. It is, 

 then, not only the smallest flowering plant but 

 the simplest. It is a distant relation of the skunk 

 cabbage and Indian turnip of the Northern States. 

 Sometimes the stream flows through a cypress 

 swamp and in it will be found much of interest. 

 Such spots are a bit uncanny by reason of the long 

 moss which hangs from the trees and imparts a 

 somber funereal appearance to the scene. The 

 small, delicate cypress leaves are arranged in two 

 series along the young deciduous stems and look 

 as though they were pinnate. The great trunks 

 have conical, fluted, or buttressed bases, and in 



