138 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



grows out of a sheathing bract. Common in ponds and shallow 

 streams. 



26. Mud Plantain 



Heisranihera reniformis. — Family, Pickerel- weed. Color, 

 white or pale blue. Leaves, kidney-shaped or heart-shaped, 

 with- long sheathing petioles. Time, summer. 



A low, creeping-stemmed herb, with a spathe of few flowers, 

 which perish in a day. The flower-tube is 6-divided. There are 

 3 stamens, 2 with yellow anthers, i with a greenish anther. A 

 leaf at first covers the flowers, from the base of which, when 

 ready to bloom, they emerge. Connecticut to New Jersey and 

 southward. 



27. Water Star-grass 



H. graminea or di^bia has stamens all alike, with grass-like 

 leaves which lie under water. Stem 2 or 3 feet long, rooting 

 at the joints. The small light -yellow flowers come to the 

 surface. 



28. Bur-reed 



Sparganium simplex. — Family, Cat - tail. Color, white. 

 Leaves, long, narrow, flat, ribbon-like, sheathing at base, float- 

 ing. Time, July, August. 



Flowers, without perianth. Stamens and pistils, separate, 

 with bracts, collected in dense heads along the upper part of 

 the stem. Staminate flowers above. The fertile ones below, 

 rather larger, from i to 4 in a head, consist of several pistils, 

 with a calyx-like set of scales underneath. Sometimes it is 

 wholly terrestrial, growing in mud on the borders of streams. 



29. Broad-fruited Bur-reed 



5. eurycArpum, a stout and tall species, and S. minimum, 

 very small, possess the same general characteristics. The lat- 

 ter is wholly aquatic, with floating stems 3 feet long or less. 



30. Green Arrow-arum 

 Peltandra Virglnica. — Family. Ar\im. Color, green. Leaves, 



