PROPAGATION OP WILD-DUCK POODS. 



11 



often having ribbonlike leaves, may be recognized by the reticula- 

 tion of the entire leaf into small cells by veins of nearly uniform size. 



In certain stages some of the arrowheads (Sagittaria) are difficult 

 to distinguish from wild celery, though they usually have the end 

 of the leaf expanded into a proper leaf 

 blade or else quite pointed, neither of which 

 characteristics is to be found in V allisneria. 

 Investigation of the subterranean organs 

 will decide the matter, however. For a de- 

 scription of those of Sagittaria see pages 

 25-26. 



The flowers of wild celery, usually seen 

 in July, are peculiar. The staminate 

 flowers, at first attached at the base of 

 the plants, later float on the surface of 

 the water and fertilize the pistillate 

 flower. The latter is attached to a long, 

 slender, round stem, which contracts into a 

 spiral, drawing the flower under the water 

 after fertilization. This spiral stem, bear- 

 ing the flower or pod (fig. 4), distinguishes 

 wild celery from the other plants men- 

 tioned. The seed pod into which the pol- 

 lenized flower develops is straight or 

 curved, a little slenderer than a common 

 lead pencil, and from 3 to 6 inches long 

 (fig. 6). It contains, embedded in a clear 

 jelly, small dark seeds, in number about 50 

 to the inch. No such pod is borne by any 

 other fresh-water plant. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Wild celery occurs naturally from cen- 

 tral Minnesota through the Great Lake re- 

 gion to northern Nova Scotia, and from 

 eastern Kansas and eastern Texas east to 

 the Atlantic coast (fig. 7). Like wild rice 

 it is of more or less local distribution, and consequently may be 

 absent from considerable areas within its general range. 



PROPAGATION. 



Fig. 5. — Leaves of wild celery, 

 showing venation. (Natural 

 size.) 



Wild celery is comparatively easy to transplant. It can be propa- 

 gated both by seeds and by winter buds, and the plant itself may be 

 taken up and set out at almost any time. Floating fragments of the 



