CONSERVATION OF GAME BIRDS. 



577 



I 



length. There are also one middle vein and two veins 

 near the edge, all of which are more prominent than the rest. 

 These are connected at intervals by cross veinlets. Some- 

 times this plant is confused with eelgrass {Zostera marina), 

 which grows in tidewater, but the leaves of wild celery grow 

 in bundles from the rootstock, while 

 those of eelgrass grow singly and al- 

 ternately on opposite sides of the 

 stem. Wild celery is sometimes con- 

 founded with pipewort (Eriocaulon) , 

 a fresh-water plant, and also with 

 certain stages of arrow-head. The 

 staminate flowers of the wild celery, 

 attached at the base of the plant, 

 shed pollen which floats on the water 

 and fertilizes the pistillate flowers, 

 which are attached to a long, slender, 

 rounded stem. This stem assumes a 

 spiral form, and by its contraction 

 draws the flower under water after 

 fertilization, where the seed pod is 

 developed. This seed pod and its 



spiral stem distinguish this from all 



other fresh- water plants. The pod is 



more slender than a common lead 



pencil, is from three to six inches 



long and contains about fifty small 



dark seeds to the inch, embedded in 



a clear jelly within the pod. 



Wild celery is not more difficult 



to plant than wild rice and may be 



grown anywhere in the United States 



under the requisite conditions. It 



may be propagated by seeds and by 



winter buds (Plate XXXII), or by fragments of the plant with a 



little of the rootstock attached. Buds, plants or seeds must not 



be allowed to dry or ferment before planting. The seed pods 



ripen from September to November and fall to the bottom, from 



Pig. 24. — Leaves of wild celery, 

 showing venation, (Natural size.) 



