Cuckoo- Pirit. 245 



case shows it as it takes place in the moist and rich 

 mould of watery ditches. 



Look first at the curious flower which is represented 

 for us here in the little sketch at the side. In the slow 

 rivers of Suffolk, and along the shallow edges of the 

 Norfolk broads, there grows a pretty spiky water-plant, 

 known by the scientific name of Acorus, or by the 

 simpler English titles of sweet-flag and sweet-sedge. 

 This acorus is a highly aromatic reed-like plant, with 

 long lance-shaped leaves, and a dense spike of small 

 yellowish-green blossoms, standing out in a cylindrical 

 form from the thick rod which does 

 duty for its stem. At first sight 

 you would not say that these flowers 

 differed very much from those of " ^ ^ 



Fig. 52. — Single flower 



the arum: they look pretty much of Sweet-sedge. 

 the same sort of small unnoticeable green knobs to a 

 casual observer. But when one comes to pick out one 

 of them from the close mass, and to examine it with 

 a common pocket lens, one can see at once that, 

 though very much reduced in size and colour, it 

 is still at bottom essentially a lily flower. In the 

 diagram we have one of these small blossoms con- 

 siderably enlarged, and it is easy to see that it 

 possesses all the various parts which characterise 

 the true lilies. There are six petals, clearly enough. 



