BOGS AND MARSHES 



141 



pools, and peaty streams and pools. The habit is 

 prostrate then ascending, or floating 1 . The stems 

 root at the nodes, and are 4-angled, branched, 

 hairless, often reddish. The leaves are opposite, 

 elliptic, egg-shaped, acute, narrowed to the leaf- 

 stalk, shining. The flowers are small, green, often 

 apetalous, stalkless, in the axils, the parts in fours, 

 the lobes triangular, acute. The bracts are awl- 

 like. The style is short, the stigma large, pin- 

 headed. The capsule is egg-shaped, blunt, 4-sided, 

 with the persistent calyx spreading horizontally. 

 The seeds are angular. The plant is 6-10 in. in 

 height, flowering in June and July, and is a herb- 

 aceous perennial. 



ORDER UMBELLIFER^E 



White Rot (Hydrocotyle vulgaris, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is marshes and bogs. The 

 habit is prostrate. The stem is creeping or float- 

 ing, white. The leaves are shield-shaped (hence 

 Hydrocotyle}, rounded, scalloped, glossy, g-veined. 

 The leaf-stalk is hairy, exceeding the flower- 

 stalks. The flowers are small, purplish-green, 

 stalkless (like the fruit, which is seldom produced), 

 forming a head. The umbels or heads are simple, 

 proliferous in the centre, with a second head, 5- 

 flowered, notched below, axillary. The bracts are 

 very small, triangular, hollow. The fruit is small, 

 the carpels having resinous points, purplish dots 

 with 2 ridges on each face. The styles are slender 

 on a flattened disk. The plant is creeping, flower- 

 ing from May to August, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



Procumbent Marshwort (Apium nodiflorum, 

 Reichb.). The habitat of this species is ditch- 

 banks and brooks, marshy, watery places. The 

 plant is prostrate in habit, then erect. The stem 

 is rooting at the base, and slender. The leaves 

 are pinnate, or trifoliate. The leaflets are stalk- 

 less, egg-shaped, lance-shaped, oblong, unequally 

 bluntly toothed, or lobed. The flowers are small, 

 white, in more or less stalkless or stalked umbels, 

 with leaves opposite, longer than the flower-stalks, 

 with a partial involucre of several leaves. The 

 rays are unequal. The bracteoles are numerous, 

 oblong, with a membranous margin. There are 

 no bracts, or 1-2. The general involucre of 1-3 

 leaflets soon falls. The fruit is small. The styles 

 are short, spreading. The plant is 1-3 ft. in 

 height, and flowers in July and August, being a 

 herbaceous perennial. 



Marsh Dropwort (CEnanthe Lachenalii, Gmel.). 

 The habitat of this plant is marshes, fresh and 

 salt. The habit is erect. The root fibres are 

 not tuberous, but club-shaped, fleshy (tapering 

 at both ends), cylindrical. The stem is slightly 

 branched. The radical leaves are bi-pinnate, soon 

 disappearing, the segments are bluntly lobed, 

 oblong, wedge-shaped, the leaflets 2-3 lobed, the 

 lower stem -leaves are 2-3 times pinnate, the 

 leaflets linear, acute, the upper leaves are pinnate. 

 The flowers are white. The partial umbels are 

 loose, spherical, distinct. The general involucre 

 consists of many leaves, and is sometimes want- 



ing. The partial involucre consists of many leaves 



not so long as the barren florets. The outer 



florets are long-stalked, barren as a rule. The 



iner are more or less stalkless, fertile. The petals, 



idiant, are inversely heart-shaped, round, with a 



lort, narrow stalk, divided to the middle. The 



ruit is oblong, not corky below, rounded above, 



versely egg-shaped, rounded and narrowed 



above. The styles are short and slender, as are 



the ultimate flower-stalks. The plant is 1-4 ft. 



high, flowering from July to September, and is a 



herbaceous perennial. 



Hemlock Water Dropwort (CEnanthe crocata, 

 L.). The habitat of this species is marshes and 

 ditches. The habit is erect. The rootstock con- 

 sists of large spindle-shaped tubers. The juice is 

 yellow or colourless. The leaves are large, tri- 

 angular. The stem is much branched, 3-4 times 

 pinnate, the radical leaves 2-3 pinnate, the stem- 

 leaves deeply divided to the base. The leaflets 

 are broad, stalked, wedge-shaped, 2-3 lobed, 

 oblong, round, cut, the lobes of the upper leaves 

 not so broad. The leaf-stalks are sheathing, large. 

 The flowers are white, in numerous large umbels 

 with many rays. The bracts and bracteoles are 

 numerous or wanting. The involucral leaves vary 

 in number and shape. The fruit is entire, narrow, 

 oblong, more or less cylindrical, furrowed, longer 

 than the fruit-stalk, which is not thickened. The 

 plant is 2-5 ft. high, flowering in July and August, 

 and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Milky Parsley (Peucedanum palustre, Mosnch). 

 The habitat of this species is marshes and fenny 

 places. The habit is erect. The stem is hollow, 

 round in section, grooved. The leaves are tri- 

 pinnate, triangular. The leaflets are divided to 

 the base, stalked, the segments narrow, lance- 

 shaped to linear, with a long point. The flowers 

 are white, small, in compound umbels, stout and 

 rough, with many rays. The general involucre 

 consists of numerous persistent bracts, lance- 

 shaped, bent down. The fruit is broadly oblong, 

 with thick, narrow wings, the stripes of the com- 

 missure being furrowed. The styles are very 

 short. The plant is 3-5 ft. high, flowering in July 

 and August, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER RUBIACE^E 



Rough Swamp Bedstraw (Ga Hum uh'gtnosum, 

 L.). The habitat of this species is marshes and 

 ditches, bogs and wet places. The plant is erect 

 or ascending in habit. The stem is rough, prickly. 

 When dry it does not turn black, but remains 

 green. The stem is slender, brittle, and weak, 

 with the bristles turned-back. The leaves are 6-8 

 in a whorl, or rarely four, narrower than in G. 

 palustre, more rigid, with a blunt point, linear to 

 lance-shaped, with a bristle point, the margins 

 rough. The flowers are white, few, in a small 

 axillary cyme, on erect flower- stalks. The 

 branches of the cyme are 3-fid, spreading. The 

 fruit is granular, dark-brown, on erect stalks. 

 The plant is 1-2 ft. high, flowering in July and 

 August, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



