LAKES, RIVERS, DITCHES, ETC. 



107 



rootstock is fleshy, short, and bears slender 

 stolons. The fibres of the roots are white and 

 cellular. The simple aerial stem is a more or less 

 leafless scape. The radical leaves are submerged, 

 more or less cylindrical, with two hollow, parallel 

 cavities or tubes, linear, blunt, entire, bent-back. 

 The scape is hollow and bears bracts below. The 

 flowers are pale-blue, distant, in a loose raceme, 

 aerial or raised above the water. The flower- 

 stalks are short. There are short, oblong, blunt 

 bracts. The calyx is inversely conical, round, 

 with short, blunt lobes. The corolla-segments 

 are linear, blunt, the upper ones are erect, the 

 lower longer. The anthers are included. The 

 capsule is club-shaped and inclined. The plant is 

 1-2 ft. in height, flowering in July and August, 

 and is a herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER PRIMULACE^E 



Brookweed (Samolus Valerandi, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is wet ground, ditches, often 

 near the sea, damp watery places. The plant 

 has the rosette habit. There is a short rootstock. 

 The stem is erect, with prostrate or ascending 

 branches, rooting at the base. The radical leaves 

 form a rosette. The leaves are inversely ovate 

 or spoon-shaped, blunt or shortly pointed, entire, 

 fleshy. The stem-leaves are alternate. The 

 flowers are numerous, white, borne on an erect 

 raceme. The ultimate flower-stalks ascend. The 

 bracts are adnate above the middle, small, and 

 lance-shaped. The tube of the calyx is hemi- 

 spherical, with triangular, acute lobes, and ad- 

 heres to the ovary. The corolla-lobes are short 

 and blunt, the corolla small, with a crown. The 

 stamens are included. The capsule is round, with 

 rough seeds. The plant is 1-2 ft. in height, 

 usually 8-12 in. It flowers from June to Septem- 

 ber, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER GENTIANACE/E 



Yellow Water Villarsia (Limnanthemum pel- 

 /a/um, Gmel. = Nymphoides peltatum = Villarsia 

 nymphceoides, Vent.). The habitat of this plant 

 is still waters, and rivers. The plant has the 

 aquatic habit, with floating leaves, and submerged 

 stems. The rootstock is creeping, with alternate 

 leaves. The flowering stems are floating, with 

 short branches in the axils of opposite leaves. 

 The stems are long, round, branched. The leaves 

 are floating, round, or heart-shaped at the base, 

 stalked, entire, green, shining, with purple spots, 

 purplish, with glands below, with wavy border. 

 The radical leaves are long-stalked, slender, 

 without sheaths, those of the floating leaves not 

 so long, stout, with sheaths. The flowers are 

 yellow. The flower-stalks bear a single flower, 

 and are clustered, crowded. The flowers are 

 more or less umbel-like, and open successively. 

 The sepals are linear to oblong, blunt. The 

 corolla has the lobes fringed with hairs, notched, 

 or fimbriate. The fruit, a capsule, is like a flagon 

 in shape, 3-valved, green. The seeds are few, 



winged, fringed with hairs. The plant is floating, 

 flowering in July and August, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



ORDER BORAGINACE^E 



Comfrey (Symphytum officinale, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is river-banks, watery places. 

 The plant is erect in habit. It is roughly hairy all 

 over. There is a branched rootstock. The roots 

 are fibrous and fleshy. The stem is stout, angular, 

 branched, broadly winged at the top. The leaves 

 are ovate to lance-shaped, narrow below, the 

 radical leaves with a long winged leaf-stalk, are 

 shortly - stalked, and running down the stem. 

 The flowers are yellowish- white or purple (S. 

 patens), in racemes or scorpioid cymes in pairs, 

 drooping. The sepals are narrow to lance-shaped, 

 spreading, more downy in the purple-flowered 

 type. The nutlets are shining. The plant is 

 1-3 ft. high, flowering in May and June, and is a 

 herbaceous perennial. 



Tufted Scorpion Grass (Myosotis cespitosa, K. F. 

 Schultz). The habitat of this plant is watery or 

 wet places. The habit is prostrate, then ascend- 

 ing. The rootstock is short, and there are no 

 stolons. The plant has a felt of distant appressed 

 hairs. The stem is much branched, round, with a 

 line running down the stem, the branches slender. 

 The leaves are bright, shining-green, the radical 

 ones spoon-shaped to oblong, polished. The 

 stem-leaves are linear to oblong, with a rounded 

 tip, blunt or notched, narrowed to the stalkless 

 base. The flowers are bright-blue, in a raceme, 

 or long cyme, slender, leafy below. The sepals 

 have straight, closely pressed hairs, and are 

 blunt, triangular, oblong to ovate, as long as the 

 tube. The corolla has a yellow disk or centre. 

 The style is not so long as the calyx. The nut- 

 lets are black, short, broad, bordered, not keeled 

 in front. The plant is 6-18 in. in height, flower- 

 ing between May and August. It is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



ORDER PLANTAGINACE;E 



Shoreweed (Littorella lacustris, L. =Z. uniflora, 

 Asch.=Z. juncea, Berg.). The habitat of this 

 plant is sandy and gravelly edges of lakes and 

 ponds, sometimes below water, when it is barren. 

 The habit is tufted. The plant is smooth or 

 downy, and may form a matted mass when sub- 

 merged. The rootstock is white, creeping, and 

 bears stolons. The leaves, which are all radical, 

 are linear to awl-like, sheathing below, fleshy, 

 channelled, sometimes having hair above. The 

 plant is monoecious. The flowers are white. The 

 male flowers are borne on an axillary scape, 

 not so long as the leaves, and are solitary, and 

 stalked (1-2 in.), with 1-2 bracts below the middle. 

 The sepals are green, with membranous edges, 

 blunt. The female flowers are more or less 

 stalked, with lance-shaped bracts. The fruit is 

 bony, with erect seeds. The plant is 1-3 in. in 

 height. It flowers in August, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



