190 The Duckweed. 



compound of both root and stem. Most people fancy iC 

 Duckweed never flowers. If, however, you will fix your eve 

 attentively upon a mass of it, on a still sunshiny day \ n t u 

 month of June or July, you will probably discover exceed, 

 ingly minute straw-colored specks here and there on the edge 

 of the plants ; they have a sparkling appearance, and notwith- 

 standing their minuteness, readily catch the eye. These are 

 the anthers, and they being found, you have only to carry 

 home the plants, and place them under a microscope, when all 

 the secrets of their flowering stand revealed. Where the 

 anthers have caught the eye, will be seen a narrow slit, out 

 of which they peep ; if you widen this slit with your dissect- 

 ing instruments, you will be able to extract the blossom entire • 

 and you will have before your eyes the simplest of all known 

 flowers, as Duckweed itself is the simplest of all known flow- 

 ering .plants. The flower consists of a transparent membranous 

 bag, split on one side; within it are two stamens, and one 

 ovary with a style and simple stigma. The fruit contains 

 but one cell, in which are one or more seeds ; its shell is a 

 thin, cellular integument. 



Such are the simple means that Duckweed possesses of 

 propagating itself; means, however, which appear to be abun- 

 dantly sufficient, if we are to judge from the immense quanti- 

 ties which sometimes rise to the surface of our ponds. Besides 

 the species under consideration, there are three others, which 

 appear to be common both to Great Britian and North Ame- 

 rica. We have here no other genus belonging to the same 

 natural order ; but in tropical countries, its place is occupied 

 by a plant called Pistia, which is a sort of gigantic Duckweed, 

 with broad lobed leaves, like some Lichens, and a more highly 

 organized flower. 



