Brook-side, Water and Bog Gardens 105 



to add to our water-gardens. A very pretty effect is 

 that of a sheet of Villarsia belting round the margin 

 of a lake near a woody recess, and before it, in deeper 

 water, a group of Water Lilies. The_yillarsia is 

 a pretty little water-plant, with Nymphaea leaves and 

 goHerf IIowers7"wKrch give a beautiful effect under 

 a bright sun. It is not very common in Britain, 

 though, where found, generally very plentiful. 



Not rare — growing, in fact, in nearly all districts of 

 Britain — but beautiful and singular, is the Buckbean or 

 Bog-b ^aru4Menyanthes trifqliata), with flowers fringed 

 on the inside with white filaments, and the round buds 

 blushing on the top with rose. It will grow in a bog 

 or any moist place, in or by the margin of water. For 

 grace, no water-side plant surpasses Equisetum Tel- 

 mateia, which, in deep soil, in shady places near 

 water, often grows several feet high, the long, close- 

 set, slender branches depending from each whorl in 

 a singularly graceful manner. It will grow on the 

 margins of lakes and streams, especially among water- 

 side bushes, or in boggy spots in the shade, and 

 will run by thousands through the worst and stiffest 

 soil. 



As a picturesque plant on the margin of water, 

 few are finer than the Great WaterJDock- (Rumex 

 Hydrolapathum) ; its fine leaves of a lurid red in 

 the autumn — a grand 'foliage' plant, and, unlike 

 many water-plants, not spreading much. This plant, 

 like many others named here, needs no care after 



