PONDWEED. 303 



leaves, leathery and oblong, floated on the surface, enabling 

 the plant to rear its flowering- stalk erect. The leaves under 

 water were narrow and transparent ; the whole plant, leaves, 

 stem and flowers were of a reddish-brown. 



Entangled with it was the Grassy Pondweed (P. gramineum), 

 with narrow green leaves, and flower-stalks from the forks ; it 

 lives and blooms under water. 



In the pond at Hill Deverill, where the Reed-mace grows so 

 regally, a pale green Pondweed, with ovate, sessile, crowded 

 leaves, flourishes also. The spike is short, and pale green like 

 the leaves ; it bears about four flowers. It is called the "Close- 

 leaved Pondweed" (P. densum). 



I found a member of this family in a chalky pond on the 

 Wiltshire Downs, and with much ado I got it. The plant was 

 the Curled Pondweed (P. crispus). The leaves are lance-shaped, 

 waved, and serrated ; they are of an olive green, as is also the 

 spike of flowers. The whole plant was under water. 



The Smallest Pondweed (P. pusillum), is a most inoffensive 

 little plant, with grass-shaped leaves and tiny spikes proceeding 

 from the axils of the leaves. Fanny found it in the Loe Pool. 



The Fennel-leaved species flourishes in the Clevedon ditches, 

 its name expresses well its distinctive character (P. pectinatum). 



Here is the Reddish Pondweed (P. rufescens, Plate XVII., 

 jig. 7), I found it in a peat bog on Grinton Moor, in Swaledale. 

 The whole plant is deeply tinged with red. The upper leaves 

 are much broader than those under water. 



There is a Various -leaved Pondweed, with stalked floating 

 leaves on the upper, and sessile ones on the lower part of the 

 stem ; and there are a long-stalked species, and a Lanceolate 

 Pondweed, both of which grow in pools among the highland 

 mountains, but we have no specimens of them. 



The Tassel-grass (Kiippia maritima), is in our collection. It 

 is a graceful plant, bearing several grass-shaped leaves on its 

 stem. The flowers are in a cluster and almost sessile, but their 

 little footstalks lengthen fast, and ere the seed is ripe the cluster 



