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spiderwort family, we have represented mainly the spider- 
worts and day-flowers. In a small pool and along its 
eastern edge is placed the pickerel-weed family. Here 
may be found a large clump of the pickerel-weed (Ponte- 
deria) which is common in swamps and along streams in 
the vicinity of New York; here may also be found the 
water-hyacinth, which has become such a pest in some of 
the rivers of Florida and the West Indies, and the closely 
related blue water-hyacinth, of more straggling habit, also 
of tropical origin, planted out in summer; neither of these 
is hardy; they may be found at all times at conservatory 
range I, house 9. 
The rush family occurs next in the sequence, represented, 
among others, by such familiar plants as the common bog- 
rush, the slender rush, and the common wood-rush. Fol- 
lowing this come the members of the bunch-flower family, 
with several species of bellworts, the turkey-beard, the 
Japanese toad-lily, the fly poison, and others. Closely 
related to this is the lily family; one of the beds given 
over to this family is devoted to the true lilies (Lilium) in 
several forms; another is set aside for the onions and their 
relatives, of which there are many interesting forms, some 
of them of decorative value; while another bed is given to a 
miscellaneous collection of plants belonging to this family, 
among which may be mentioned the day, or plantain, lilies, 
the yellow day lilies and the lemon lilies, the true asphodel 
or king’s sword, the grape-hyacinth and Adam’s needle. 
Other close relatives of the lilies belong to the lily-of-the- 
valley family; here may be found many familiar plants, 
among them being the lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria), 
the wild spikenard, the common asparagus, of such wide 
use as a vegetable in the early part of the summer, and 
several species of the Solomon’s-seal. 
The amaryllis family is shown by a number of species of 
daffodils and narcissus. In the iris family, which comes 
next, many species are represented. Most familiar among 
these are: the common blue flag of our swamps, the yellow 
