BUBB-BEED CUCKOO PINT. 299 



The Unbranched Burr-reed (S. simplex), I got out of a pond in 

 ChesMre ; its " balls " are larger and still more feathery, but 

 as the stem is simple there are only a few clusters of flowers at 

 intervals up its spike. Here the smallest cluster is at the apex. 



The Floating Burr-reed (S. natans), is a much smaller plant. 

 Its fellows are often three feet high, but this only rises a few 

 inches out of the water ; and the whole length of its stem 

 rarely exceeds a foot, though that of course depends upon the 

 depth of the water in which it grows. The hue of all these 

 Burr-reeds is very pale, but this is the palest of all. The stalk 

 is simple, and contains generally only one barren head, and 

 about two fertile ones. My specimen is from a pond on Rudd 

 Heath, Cheshire. 



The next family is an exception to the group of water plants, 

 at least our British member is. In other countries Arums 

 inhabit moist places, and the margin of rivers. The beautiful 

 white Arum of our greenhouses is the " Lily of the Nile," and 

 upon the shores of the Mediterranean it is so plentiful as to 

 be used in decorating halls and assembly-rooms for festive 

 occasions. 



Our native species called by the various names of " Cuckoo 

 Pint," "Lords and Ladies," "Parsons in the Pulpit," is a 

 handsome and curious plant (Irum maculatum, Plate XVII., 

 fig. 5). It resembles the Reed-mace in the arrangement of its 

 flowers, the male being on the upper part of the spike, and the 

 female in a broad ring lower down. A large sheath enwraps 

 the spike before it comes to maturity, and continues to shield 

 it like a canopy until the flowers are over ; then berries form, 

 the sheath withers and disappears, and a spike of scarlet berries 

 takes the place of the canopied flower-cluster. The leaves are 

 of a full green, arrow-shaped, and very glossy ; they are often 

 spotted with" purple. They are decidedly poisonous. Orfila 

 mentions three children who ate of them, two of whom died 

 after lingering sufferings, and the third was with difficulty 

 saved. In Queen Elizabeth's time starch was made from the 



