46 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



" I have often skimmed off some of it from the 

 water/' said Mary, " but I never found any flowers ; 

 only little green scales without any stems, and 

 with a delicate little fibre for a root." 



" I do not wonder at your not finding the flowers, 

 for they are enclosed in a delicate membraneous 

 bag, and are kept concealed in a slit of the 

 leaf." 



"What a droll place for them ! They shall not 

 hide themselves from me, for I mean to search for 

 them with my little microscope. But why are 

 these plants called duckweeds ?" 



" Because all the species are said to be eaten by 

 ducks and other aquatic birds. Their botanical 

 name of Lemna means a scale. 



"Near to the grasses are found certain tribes 

 having a general tendency to one manner of growth, 

 namely, to bear their flowers upon a club-shaped 

 spadix, as it is called. The common Arum,* or 

 ' Lords and Ladies/ or ' Cuckoo Pint/ has this kind 

 of spadix, and is a good example of a tribe of 

 plants chiefly confined to the tropics, where they 

 grow to a considerable size." 



" I thought *' Lords and Ladies ' had no flowers ; 

 * Arum maculatum. 



