246 The Wild Garden 



observed among the collections competing for a trifling 

 prize large bunches of this beautiful Gentian, which 

 had been pulled up by the roots, to form one of 

 one hundred or more bunches of wild flowers torn 

 up by one individual. In the Gentian order we 

 have also the beautiful Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata), 

 a plant that will grow on the margin of water or 

 ditches or ponds ; it will also grow and flower in 

 a moist border. It is a well-known plant almost 

 everywhere in Britain; a beautiful native flower ele- 

 gantly fringed on the inside with white filaments, 

 and its unopened buds tipped with apple-blossom 

 red. Villarsia nymphaeoides is also another pretty 

 water-plant, with floating, small, water lily-like leaves, 

 and, in July, many yellow flowers^so many as to give 

 a very showy effect; and it associates well with 

 the white water lily. One of the prettiest effects 

 I have ever seen was produced by this plant 

 lining a small bay with a group of water lilies on 

 its outer side. Seen from the opposite shore the 

 effect was charming — large water lilies in front, then 

 a wide-spreading mass of green sprinkled with starry 

 yellow, and behind the shrubs which came to the 

 water's edge on the shores of the little bay. 



Jacob's Ladder, or Greek Valerian as it is some- 

 times called, also belongs to the Gentian order, and is 

 a border plant, and its variegated variety (Polemonium 

 caeruleum variegatum) is much used in fine flower 

 gardens. 



