AQUATIC PLANTS. 11 



and general appearance we readily trace remarkable 

 similarities with those of the phanerogamous vege- 

 tation of the dry land. The curious Vallisneria (the 

 female blossoms of which reach the surface of the 

 water by means of a spirally elastic stalk, and are 

 impregnated by the male becoming detached from 

 the bottom, and floating to the surface, likewise, at 

 maturity) is an example of aquatic vegetation well 

 known to every one who has been in the habit of 

 reading botanical books; and the no less curious 

 Pontederias, remarkable from the inflated leaf-stalks 

 which float them in the water, are equally well known. 

 In our own country, the various species of Potamo- 

 geton are perhaps the most prevalent aquatics, seve- 

 ral of them being extremely common, often com- 

 pletely covering the surface of the stagnant pond, or 

 the purer waters of the pellucid lake. The Ranun- 

 culus aquatilis is also common in pools or gentle 

 streams, clothing them with a turf-like verdure, and 

 exhibiting a lovely array of pure white blossoms in 

 early summer time; and the Butomus, not unfrequent 

 in the English lakes, though a rare plant, and, at 

 best, an introduced one to Scotland, is peculiarly in- 

 teresting to the few who still cling to the Linnsean 

 method, from the circumstance of its being the only 

 British representative of the class Enneandria. To 

 botanists of the present day, a recent addition to 

 our Aquatic Flora, the Anacharis, is highly curious, 

 having only been recognised as a British genus within 



