Cuckoo-Pint. 245 



case shows it as it takes place in the moist and rich 



mould of watery ditches. 



Look first at the curious flower which is represented 



for us here in the little sketch at the side. In the slow 



rivers of Suffolk, and along the shallow edges of the 



Norfolk broads, there grows a pretty spiky water-plant, 



known by the scientific name of Acorus, or by the 



simpler English titles of sweet-flag and sweet-sedge. 



This acorus is a highly aromatic reed-like plant, with 



long lance-shaped leaves, and a dense spike of small 



yellowish-green blossoms, standing out in a cylindrical 



form from the thick rod which does 



duty for its stem. At first sight 



you would not say that these flowers 



differed very much from those of ^ ^ ^. f ^ 



■^ Fig. 52.— rSingle flower. 



the arum : they look pretty much of Sweet-sedge. 

 the same sort of small unnoticeable green knobs to a 

 casual observer. But when one comes to pick out one 

 of them from the close mass, and to examine it with 

 a common pocket lens, one can see at once that, 

 though very much reduced in size and colour, it 

 is still at bottom essentially a lily flower. In the 

 diagram we have one of these small blossoms con- 

 siderably enlarged, and it is easy to see that it 

 possesses all the various parts which characterise 

 the true lilies. There are six petals, clearly enough, 



