ii4 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



handsome of our bog-loving species, with its umbel of 

 rose-red flowers clustered at the top of a round stalk, 

 which rises several feet above the surface of the water. 

 This fine plant is not to be found on Minsmere Level, 

 though it abounds in a marsh not many miles distant, 

 but all along the side of the dyke which runs nearest to 

 the ruined chapel the rare and exquisite marsh- mallow, 

 with soft, velvety leaves and pale purplish flowers, is 

 abundant. 



Where the dykes are not overgrown with rank herb- 

 age, choicer and more delicate species may sometimes 

 be seen flowering in the open water. In such places, it 

 is true, unattractive pondweeds and starworts often 

 manage to obtain a monopoly, and not infrequently the 

 entire surface of the water is covered with a uniform 

 scum of unwholesome-looking duckweed, or, as the old 

 herbalists called it, " ducks' meat." Old Gerard in 

 his Herbal has a quaint woodcut representing a moat 

 beneath a fortress covered with the " very little round 

 leaves of the bigness of Lentils " of this plant, on which 

 several ducks are feeding. But in the more open dykes 

 of the Minsmere Level, where the " ducks' meat " has 

 not gained the mastery, several interesting species may 

 be seen. Along one reach of water the lesser water- 

 plantain is established, a rare and delicate plant with 

 rather large flowers of a pale pink colour and with a 

 spot of yellow in the centre. The bladder-wort, too, is 

 not uncommon, and here and there along the dark 

 stretch of water the deep yellow flowers stand up with 

 striking effect. In other ditches the orbicular leaves 

 of the uncommon and elegant frog-bit entirely cover 

 the surface of the water, and when the plant is in 

 flower the dainty white blossoms are very attractive. 



