882 PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GARDEN PLANTS pontbdeeia 



Z. elegans {Z. glaucus). — Also a na- small- white flowers, with oblong acute 



tive of N. America, 1-2 ft. high, with firm distinctly clawed segments, appear m 



linear glaucous - green leaves, 1-lJ in. June, borne ,on loosely branched racemes 



long, thickly nerved. The flowers appear 1-2 in. long, 



in summer in loose racemes, and are Culture <tc. as above, 



greenish outside, white within, the oblong These are the two kinds best known, 



segments being thickly nerved. but the following are occasionally seen in 



Culture dc. as above. botanical collections : — angustifoKus, 12- 



18 in. high, with white flowers turning to 



Z. glaberriraus (Helonias bracteata). purple ; Fremonti, about the same height 



A North American plant 2-3 ft. high, with creamy white flowers; MusccBtoxi- 



with creeping rootstocks and linear cv/m, 1-2 ft. high, with greenish- white 



grassy leaves 12-18 in. long, those on the flowers ; and NuttalK, 6-18 in. high, 



stems being very much reduced. The with white flowers. 



CXV. JUNCACE^— Rush Order 



An order of herbaceous plants with a short and often perennial rootstock, 

 erect simple stems, often with thick pith, and slender, flat or round leaves. 

 The small green or brown hermaphrodite or dicBcious flowers are borne in 

 axillary or terminal cymes, and consist of a regular 6-parted inferior perianth 

 in 2 series. Stamens usually 6, attached to the base of the segments, or 

 hypogynous. Fruit capsular. 



There are few plants of any garden value in this order. The common 

 Eush, Juncus effusus (or J. communis), is a well-known native of marshy 

 places. The variety spiralis is a curious plant with dense tufts of spirally 

 twisted leaves, some being almost corkscrew-like. The plants of this variety 

 come true from seed. By the edges of ponds they may be grovm, if not for 

 their beauty, at least for their singular appearance. 



CXVI. PONTEDERIACEiE— Pickerel Weed Order 



A small order of aquatic herbs sometimes having the rootstocks creeping in 

 mud, and sometimes floating in water, the leaf stems producing roots from 

 the joints. The perfect leaves are long-stalked with a floating or emersed blade, 

 the submersed leaves often being reduced to linear stalks without blades. 

 The flowers are hermaphrodite, slightly irregular, or sometimes regular, and 

 borne in terminal racemes or spikes. Perianth inferior, free from the ovary, 

 and consisting of 6 lobes, more or less distinctly in 2 series. Stamens 6 or 3. 

 Ovary superior 3-celled. Fruit a dry few- or many-seeded capsule. 



PONTEDERIA (Pickerel Weed), often sterile and enclosed, the 3 lower 



A small genus of showy water plants with protruding. 



creeping rootstocks, long-stalked heart- P. cordata. {P. lanceolaia). — A beautiful 



shaped or oblong leaves (those of the N. American species 1-3 ft. high, with 



stems being shortly stalked), and terminal creeping rootstocks, and thick bright green 



racemes of blue funnel-shaped flowers, lance-shaped cordate leaves on long stalks 



having an incurved slender or rarely which are dilated and sheathing at the 



shortened tube, and a somewhat 2-lipped base. During the summer months the sky- 



perianth. Stamens 6, the 3 upper ones blue flowers are borne in dense racemes, 



