xxix LETTERS TO MARCO 199 



once knew, from my book-knowledge, must 

 be one called the Grass of Parnassus. It is 

 a very pretty and rather uncommon bog- 

 plant. Mrs. Tadema had had it given to 

 her, and she had carried it to Streatley 

 with her. 



But it was curious that on the same after- 

 noon I should have seen another specimen. 

 I called on a lady to whom I had given some 

 Japanese irises, to see how they were getting 

 on ; and there, round the base of these irises, 

 were one or two little plants of this same 

 Parnassia. The lady was of Norfolk extrac- 

 tion, and knew the plant well as a girl ; but it 

 was puzzling to think how it had found its way 

 to her garden in Oxfordshire. We accounted 

 for it in this way. I had advised her that 

 these irises required plenty of moisture and 

 a peaty soil, and she had planted them near 

 a large pond, and put some lumps of peat into 

 the ground, and no doubt the little seeds or 

 roots of the Parnassia came there in the peat, 

 possibly even from Norfolk. 



