PLANTS GROWING IN WATER. 33 
from home and her playmate, the pickerel, to take a peep 
through a serene lake border or a smooth stream which she has 
enticed into upholding her in her naughtiness. She comes 
with a troop of her companions, all gay, ragged and pert as she. 
Many are allured to the lake border by her brightness, and she 
would often be carried away to see more of the world but the 
cool, calm water is her protector. Perhaps the upper world is 
a disappointment to our young visitor : she lifts up her head for 
only one day, then withers and dies. 
WATER STAR GRASS. 
Heteranthéra dubia. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Pickerel-weed. Pale yellow. Scentless. Mostly north. Summer. 
Flowers : perfect; solitary. Perzanth : salver-shaped, of six equal divisions 
that terminate in the tube. Stamens: three. Pystil: one. Leaves: sub- 
merged; grass-like. Svemz: two to three feet long; branching ; floating ; and 
rooted at the lower joints. 
When we notice these small, bright flowersas they come to 
the surface of some stream, we are reminded of a little waif 
that has strayed far from home. The plant is one that is 
rather uncommon. 
WATER-HYACINTH. (Pilate VIZ) 
Piarépus crdsstpes. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Pickerel-weed. Pinkish blue. Scentless. Mostly in Florida. Summer. 
Flowers : growing in thick clusters on a flower stalk. Perzanth: labiate ; 
the upper lip three-lobed and beautifully marked with turquoise and sapphire 
blue, having also a yellow spot in the centre. The lower lip three-lobed and 
spreading. Stamens: six; the three lower ones in the throat; the three upper 
ones shorter and imperfect. /7st7/: one. Leaves : on petioles; roundish; tipped 
with alittle point and floating in a rosette one to two feet high on the surface 
of the water. The base of the petiole swollen and filled with air, which 
keeps the plant from sinking and aids it in resisting both wind and waves. 
Roots : two feet long; dense, bushy, attaching themselves to the ground where 
the water is shallow, otherwise floating. 
Lining the shores of the St. Johns River and many of the 
lakes and sluggish streams in Florida, the water-hyacinth may be 
seen in masses varying from fifty to several hundred feet wide. 
