XII Thames Reeds and Lilies 



ON the banks and backwaters of the Thames the 

 vegetation has a diversity and richness which are 

 peculiar to the larger water systems. Smaller 

 rivers are seldom bordered by a strikingly varied 

 river flora, except when they are themselves tribu- 

 taries of some larger stream, and thus possess 

 communication with a wide network of waters. 

 Such a river is the little Swift, which flows past 

 Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, to join the Warwick- 

 shire Avon not many miles away. In spite of its 

 small size and the comparative poverty of the land 

 flora in the district through which it flows, its 

 water gardens are surprisingly flourishing and 

 varied ; and this unexpected richness appears to 

 have been produced by the development of its 

 water flora in long association with that of the 

 verdant Avon and all the other streams which 

 drain from the western Midlands into the Severn. 

 A noticeable contrast is presented by the scanty 

 flora of many other small streams, such as those of 

 the Sussex Weald, which reach the sea in a few 

 dozen miles, and have connexion with no large 

 inland basin. Their banks may be equally well 

 clothed ; but after the eye has caught the first 

 brightness of their June irises, or drunk the deep 

 purple stain of their August loosestrife and willow- 

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