ALONG THE RIVER 



79 



with it blooms the gipsy-wort, with clusters of smaller pink 

 blossoms in the axils of its notched leaves. Another 

 handsome plant which here and there grows freely on the 

 Thames banks and 

 the marshy edges of 

 the backwaters is the 

 meadow - rue. This 

 has creamy yellow 

 blossoms something 

 like those of the 

 meadow - sweet, but 

 the plant is taller 

 and its leaves more 

 deeply cut. Because 

 it shoots among the 

 thickest streamside 

 vegetation, where its 

 blossom is easily mis- 

 taken for that of the 

 meadow-sweet, it is 

 apt to be overlooked, 

 though it is one of the 

 most striking water- 

 side plants. Much 

 commoner, and fonder 

 of growing actually 

 in the shallow mar- 

 gin of the river, is the 

 water-plantain, with 



its large head of small lilac flowers. The leaves are shaped 

 like those of the plantains which deface our lawns, though 

 the plants belong to quite different tribes. The water-plantain 

 is of the same family as the arrowhead. It is a curious 



MEADOW-SWEET 



