THE MID-JULY FLOWERS. 215 
the weary flowers as dropping from the heated hands of 
belles, in the later hours of the feast. The Egyptian 
Lotus was, moreover, the emblem of the sacred Nile,— 
as the Hindoo species, of the sacred Ganges; and each 
was held the symbol of the creation of the world from 
the waters.” 
In the same waters are the numerous floating stems 
of several species of Utricularia, two of which, U. vud- 
garis, L. and U. inflata, Walt. are quite conspicuous 
with their yellow flowers. These are carnivorous plants, 
and woe to the little creature who enters the trap of the 
crowded little bladders borne on the leaves. On the 
sandy shore the round-leaved sundew and the long- 
leaved sundew may both be found,- both carnivorous 
also, but naturally differing in habit from the bladder- 
wort. 
The two vervains are often as closely associated in 
their habitat as they are in the above list. The blue 
one was once held in high repute for its supposed medi- 
cinal virtues, but the wheel of its fortune has turned 
round, and the blue vervain is now a mere weed. The 
lopseed may be easily recognized even by the unin- 
itiated, when its little purplish flowers are seen standing 
at right angles to the stem and, a little later, the ripen- 
ing pods all pointing to the ground. We cannot miss 
seeing these tall stems with large leaves and yellow 
flowers, which prove to be elecampane. 
