340 



MV GARDEN. 



Arrow-head plant {Sagiitaria sagittifolia, fig. 779) from the Thames. 

 In the river above Oxford this plant is very troublesome, and some- 

 times encroaches to such an extent as to impede navigation, as it grows 

 completely across the river. The flower, however, is very beautiful, 

 and the whole plant so interesting as to be worthy of culture. 



Another water-side plant, the Alisnia Plantago (fig. 780), is fine in 

 its place, although not so beautiful as the Sagittaria. It comes up 

 spontaneously at the edge of my backwater. 



Fig. 779- — Sagittaria sagittifolia. 



Fig. 780. — Alisma Plantago. 



Fig. 781. — Epilobium hirsutum. 



Along the whole of the banks of our river the Epilobium hirsutum 

 fig- 781) grows as plentifully as we will permit it. This is another 

 of those various plants that make the banks of the Thames more 

 beautiful than any cultivated flower-garden. It does not grow so 

 fine in my garden as it does on the banks of larger rivers, but looks 

 rather straggling and weedy; nevertheless a plant here and there is 



ornamental. 



I have in a little pond the Water Soldier 

 (fig. 782), a curious plant, which grows wild 

 in some of the ponds on Clapham and 

 Wandsworth Commons. In autumn little 

 bulb-hke buds are formed, from which new 

 plants grow in the succeeding spring. I have 

 also on the margin of the same pond the 

 Hydrocotyle vulgare (fig. 783), which grows freely on Mitcham 

 Common. 



But now we have to speak of very troublesome weeds, which 



Fig. 782.— Water Soldier. 



