ON AQUATIC PLANTS. 



921 



to succeed in flowering this species under artificial treatment, 

 the plants should be allowed to become crowded and the roots 

 well matted together. They should be located in the sunniest 

 position in shallow water with a little soil for them to root in, 

 and the offsets (which are freely produced) should be removed 

 as soon as they appear. This pretty plant has been introduced 

 from its native habitat (South America) to some of the water- 

 courses in the United States, and in the St. John's River, Florida, 

 it has increased to such an extent as to become a serious 

 obstruction to navigation. 



Herpestis Monnieria- is a small but dense-growing plant of 

 prostrate habit. The small, solitary, bluish flowers are freely 

 produced, and are arranged in the axils of the leaves. It is a 

 very serviceable subject for covering the bare surface of wet soil 

 in which tall, erect-growing plants are situated. 



Hydrocleys Commersoni (Limnocharis Humboldtii, Water- 

 Poppy), is a very desirable and handsome Aquatic, with large, 

 pale, yellow flowers, deepening in 

 tone of colour towards the base 

 of the petals ; the numerous 

 stamens are purplish, which add 

 to the beauty of the flowers. 

 They are very fugacious, but 

 the freedom with which they are 

 produced amply atones for that 

 deficiency. It is a free-growing 

 plant of neat habit, with floating, 

 roundish ovate-shaped leaves, the 

 mid-rib of which is very prominent 

 on the under-side. 



Hydrolea spinosa (Fig. 610) 

 is an erect-growing, free-flowering 

 plant, producing corymbose 

 panicles of rich, clear, blue 

 flowers. It is of easy culture and 

 compact in habit. Seeds sown 

 in the early spring will produce 

 flowering plants late in the 

 season. Height ift. to 2ft. 



Jussieua repens grandiflora 

 has shortly - stalked five - petalled 

 flowers of a rich deep yellow. 

 The plant is of vigorous growth, 



with long, prostrate floating stems, from the joints of which 

 erect-growing, flowering shoots are produced, and also tufts of 

 short, fibrous roots. 



Fig. 610. — Hydrolea spinosa. 



