FERNS OP GEEAT BRITAIN. 141 



roots of Isoetes lacustris, digged up from the bottom of 

 Loch Lomond, partaking of this tribute from the moun- 

 tains, though in an inferior degree to a truly Alpine 

 plant." 



The QuiEwort occurs in the marshy lands and waters 

 of several parts of Europe, and seems more abun- 

 dant in Sweden and Denmark than elsewhere. In 

 Trance the plant is called L'Isote des Stands; and in 

 Germany Der Brachsemfarrn. Mr. Gardner, when in 

 Brazil, collected from a marsh by the side of a river 

 specimens of a QuiEwort which appeared to be identical 

 with the British species, and adds, "The sight of this 

 plant recalled pleasing recollections of long past times, 

 and I could not refrain from indulging in a lengthened 

 train of reflection, which ended by comparing it with 

 myself — a stranger in a strange land — and associated 

 with stiU stranger companions." The Quillwort occurs 

 also in the northern parts of North America. 



To those unacquainted with the plant, its long quill- 

 like leaves would seem, when growing in the water, to 

 be those of some kind of grass, which by its ready 

 growth was quite filling up the pool. It abounds in 

 some of the lakes of Denbighshire, and in those of 

 Llanberis; and at Rydal and the other Westmoreland 

 lakes, and in waters near Coxwould in Yorkshire, as 

 well as at Prestwick Carr in Northumberland, it has 

 long been known and admired for the beauty and 

 greenness which it gives to the stOl waters. 



At the base of the long awl-shaped leaves of this 

 singular plant is a roundish tuber, which is brown and 

 spongy on the outside, but is, within, white and firm. 



