64 ALPINE FLOWERS [PART I. 



HARDY WATER PLANTS. 



Water and water-side plants are often intimately associated 

 with rock-gardens, and much beauty may be added to the 

 margins, and here and there to the surface, of water, by water- 

 plants. Usually we see the same monotonous vegetation all 

 round the margin if the soil be rich ; in some cases, where the 

 bottom is of gravel, there is little or no vegetation, but an ugly 

 line of washed earth between wind and water. In others. 



The White Water-Lily. 



water-plants accumulate till they are a nuisance and an eyesore 

 I do not mean submerged plants like Anacharis, but such as 

 the water-lilies, when they get matted. 



One of the prettiest effects I have seen was a sheet 

 of Villarsia nymphceoides belting round the margin of a lake 

 near a woody recess, and it is too seldom seen in garden 

 waters, being a pretty little water-plant, with its Nymphaea-like 

 leaves and many yellow flowers. 



Not rare growing, in fact, in nearly all districts of Britain 

 is the Buckbean or Marsh Trefoil (Menyanthes trifoliata\ 

 with flowers elegantly fringed on the inside with white fila- 

 ments, and the round unopened buds blushing on the top with 

 a rosy red like that of an apple-blossom. In early summer, 

 when seen trailing in the soft ground near the margin of a 

 stream, this plant has more charms for me than any other 

 marsh-plant. It will grow in a bog or any moist place, or by 

 the margin of any water, and though a common native plant, 

 it is not half enough grown in garden waters. For grace, few 



