1^2 CO.r.IX CI.Ol'T'S CAI.EXDAR. 



the oldt-r cMU's of a rich c^lossy j^nccn as lhc\' spread alonj^ 

 the ualcr's top, the younger ones not Nxt unrolled and 

 c»raj)aU chocolate brown or ra\vn-Cf)!our in the half- 

 opened 1)11(1. r'roni the centre, a s]>ikc of liMle ^^reenish 

 flowers projects above the level of the water, as plain and 

 unnoicworth)' an inflorescence, I must admit, as anybody 

 could wish to see. Vet even here the plant as a whole 

 is made beautiful by its heart-shaped (loatin;^^ folia^^c, by 

 the Ioul; thin transparent sheaths that ^aiard its stem, 

 and by the sin|^rularl>' lovely colour rif its unopened 

 leaves. And if you look closely at the separate flowers 

 themselves, you will see that they each bear obvious 

 marks of their ultimate derivation from bri;^dit j)ctal- 

 bearini,' I)roi,^enitors in their possession (~'>^ four little 

 screen scales surroundinij their stamens, the last stunted 

 relic of their original coloured corolla. This is a case 

 where dei^radation has only j^one, comparatively speakinff, 

 a very little way. We can still see on the face of the 

 flower the rudiments of its former petals, tlnnigh all their 

 function is now lost. 



Turn next to the bur-rccd here, this much-branched 

 bushy-lookinc^ succulent plant whose lonL,^ lance-Iikc 

 leaves closely overhang the shallow edc^c of the pool. 

 Its flowers look at first sifjht like mere round knobs or 

 balls, stuck cjuaintly on to the side of the thick juicy 

 branches, and decreasini^f in size towards the ends of the 

 f^reen twit^js, from the diameter of a whitehcart cherry to 

 that of a small pea. lUit vvlien j-ou come to look more 

 closely into them, you can sec that they arc of two kinds, 

 the larj;er and lower ones consistinj^; of little pointed 

 nuts, all crowded together in a dense globe ; the smaller 

 and upper ones composed of clustered stamens, irregu- 



