104 Thames Reeds and Lilies 



herb, it searches almost in vain for other familiar 

 blossoms. The wider the river system, the more 

 secure is the stronghold which it has long provided 

 for its native plants, and the greater the variety 

 which it distributes through distant waters. The 

 Thames is the greatest of all such reservoirs and 

 distributors of plant life ; and the wealth of its 

 capacious watershed is amplified by the warmth 

 and fertility of its bordering meadows. 



The dense screen of sedges, reeds, and blossoms 

 which fringe so many reaches of the Thames in 

 summer hardly begins to rise until the early days of 

 May, when the primroses are already fading in the 

 higher copses and the bluebells are nearly at their 

 prime. The warmth of spring strikes slowly through 

 the mire of the river ; and the same abundant 

 moisture which forces the river vegetation to such 

 prodigal luxuriance in July keeps it sluggish while 

 the nights are chill. The earliest moorhens' nests 

 are built among the old dead reeds ; and it is not 

 until April is well advanced that the first green 

 blades of flag and bur-reed begin to thrust from 

 their crooked roots, washed bare at the water's 

 edge. As the screen of vegetation begins to rise, 

 the broad blades which chiefly compose it present 

 a distinct though delicate contrast of three shades 

 of green. At this early and flowerless stage it is 

 the colour of their leaves that chiefly distinguishes 

 the pond-sedge, the bur-reed, and the common 

 flag or iris, which build up, with beds of slenderer 

 rush, the green defence and adornment of so many 

 miles of the summer waterway. The brightest and 



