Ulva 



(Ge. iv. 478), gaunt and ugly, epithets not to be 

 applied to those which fringe the banks of the 

 hallowed Mincio. 



Martyn found our plant in the cat's-tail, which 

 children call bulrush, and books by the bookish 

 name of reed-mace ; but Ovid would hardly have 

 applied the epithet of * sterilis ' to a plant with so 

 stately an inflorescence. Moreover, the plant has 

 farinaceous and esculent roots, and Martyn himself 

 claims an Italian use for its fluff as the stuffing 

 of beds. 



The method of residues seems to leave us with 

 only one plant which answers all the conditions. 

 This is the fen sedge (Cladium Mariscus), whose 

 Italian name is ' paniscastrella di palude.' Its leaves 

 are as long as four and its stem as five feet. It often 

 makes masses in the lakes and marshes of Italy. 

 Though a local plant in England, it is still abundant 

 in some parts of the Eastern Counties fens, and, 

 according to Mrs. Lancaster, was at one time used at 

 Cambridge for lighting fires. It may be recognized 

 by the stout and round stems, which are very leafy, 

 and by the leaves, which have jagged edges and very 

 long points. The flowering cymes are pale brown. 



Flower, May and June. 



Italian name, Panicastrella di palude. 



Vaccinium : see Hyacinthus. 



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