4 FLOWERS OK THE BOGS AND MARSHES 



phytcs. With the Reed in the Reed formation one finds Bulrush, 

 Reed Mace, Flowering Rush, Iris, Galingale, Hummock Sedge, 

 Water Plantain, Arrowhead, Bur Reed, Great Hairy Willow Herb, 

 Great Yellow Loosestrife, Sweet Flag, Buckbean, Purple Loosestrife, 

 Great Spearwort, Water Dropwort, &c. 



Zones can be recognized, moreover, in this formation named after 

 the dominant species or genus, such as phragmiteta, scirpeta, heleo- 

 chareta, cariceta, typheta, equiseteta. The Hydrophytes are tall, 

 slender, and upright, usually un branched. As will be seen some of 

 those that grow in true bogs, requiring acid humus, must also be 

 considered Oxylophytes, and high- or low-moor plants. Some parts 

 of marsh and bog land are covered or interspersed with shrubs or trees, 

 one or more of which give to each type a character of its own. Such 

 are Alneta, where one finds Purple Loosestrife, Meadow Sweet, Buck- 

 bean, Sedges, Willows, Guelder Rose, and the Nettle. 



Saliceta, on banks of swamps, are characterized by the Crack and 

 White Willows, Great Yellow Loosestrife, Great Hairy Willow Herb, 

 Valerian, Meadow Sweet, &c., with Reecls, and higher up, Bittersweet, 

 Great Bindweed, and Hop. In other places, Betuleta and Pineta are 

 characterized by the dominance of Birches and Pines with their own 

 ground flora. 



Out in the midst of the pools rises the tall, graceful, and stately 

 Great Spearwort. Its yellow chasubles shine like melted gold in the 

 sun. Down by the sides of the meres, and in wet marshy meadows, 

 Kingcups play a kindred part. Here, too, the lovely white, veined 

 petals of the Grass of Parnassus, with the scale-like honey glands, spot 

 the meadows in autumn, where the Bog Bean and Marsh Helleborine 

 lie hid amongst the mulchy sedges and moist undergrowth. In the 

 little bog-pools the insectivorous Sundew glistens like sparkling drops 

 of dew in the sun, to attract its insect prisoners, rare viands for a 

 plant! 



Diminutive forests are formed by the Water Dropwort, which 

 grows, like Valerian, in low-lying meadows, forming dense undergrowth, 

 with flowers pure and white. On the moors or in wet bogs the Cran- 

 berry and Wild Rosemary, in less upland morasses, are found here and 

 there, the first being sought after eagerly for its fruit in autumn. Bog 

 Pimpernel, with its choice pink blossoms, trails in the moist hollows 

 close by where Water Violet swims in the quiet pools, anchored only 

 by its webwork of foliage. Crouching low down amid the sedges and 

 rushes the Bog Speedwell is a true marsh species, and Marsh Lousewort 

 grows on the borders of moist meadows where Bog Bean flourishes. 



