Knowles and Piiilmps — On the Claim of the Snowflake, 6f-c. 389 



ones. Hero and lliero are large o^ien stretches of water and dcc[i po<iLs. On 

 tlio surface of these, where the brackish and fresh waters intermingle, float 

 the Yellow and White AVater-lilies, Limnanthemum, Potamogetons, and 

 other plants not found in the salt-water swamps. The edges of these pools 

 are fringed with impenetrable stretches of reed vegetation formed of Scirpus 

 lacustris, S. maritimus, Elcoclmris pahtstris, Cladium Mariscus, Typha, &c., the 

 flowering element of this uniform association being formed by the Snowflake 

 {Lcucojmn acstivum), the Yellow Iris (Iris Pseudacorus) and the Flowering 

 Eush {Butomus umhdlatus). 



In Italy the plant is recorded from wet places and marshy meadows in 

 the neighbourhood of the Gulf of Venice, on the Ijanks of the Eiver Po, and 

 it is said to be common in similar situations in the northern part of the 

 peninsula, especially on the shores of Lakes Maggiore, Como, and Garda. It 

 is also found in inundated swamps along the course of the Eiver Arno. In 

 Switzerland it has been found in wet meadows at Yverdon, Lake Neuchatel, 

 and at Nidau at the north end of Lake Bieune. In southern France it occurs 

 in ditches, marshes, and wet meadows along the Mediterranean from Nice to 

 the Pyrenees, in Provence, in Languedoc, and in Eoussillon. In western France 

 it occurs in the estuary of the Gironde, and is abundant in the province of 

 Tarn-et-Garonne. In northern France it is very common in two provinces 

 dramed by the Lou'e, viz. Loii-e-et-Cher and Sarthe. It is recorded from 

 Belgium and Holland by Nyman in his " Conspectus." We have seen speci- 

 mens from Malines ; and Messrs. Krelage and Son of Haarlem, to whom we 

 are indebted for specunens of the Dutch cultivated Zciicojiim aestivum, write 

 that " L. acstivum is also a wild growmg plant in Holland." In Germany it 

 grows in Pflaz and Lothringen, in wet meadows of Westphalia, on the banks 

 of the Lower Ehine above Speyer ; it is found at Hamburg on the estuary of 

 the Elbe, and is abundant in many places aliout Liibeck. Some of the German 

 floras are doubtful about the stanchng of the plant in Germany, as it has been 

 under cultivation for a long time in that country ; but we can find no direct 

 evidence to show that it is an escape. It also grows in Denmark on the 

 island of Flinen and other places. 



The extra-European countries in which Lcvxojum acstivum has been found 

 are Asia Minor (the entire north) and Persia. In Asia Minor it is found in 

 the tracts of country bordering on the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora. It 

 is also recorded from the Transcaucasian provinces. In Persia it occurs in 

 the north of the province of Ghilian, which lies along the shores of the Caspian 

 Sea. 



Thus we see the plant has a continuous distribution from the Caspian Sea 

 to the Bay of Biscay and the North Sea ; that it grows chiefly along the banks 



