1. Ferns as a border for a shady pond. 
The Best Aquatic Plants—By Henry S. Conard, 
How much better than the hard, 
straight shore line that is commonly allowed to show! 
2. PickKerel weed at its best, showing how well this common native plant looks 
in cultivation. Flowers pale blue. Pontederta cordata. 
Needs checking occasionally 
Johns Hopkins 
University 
THE SHOWIEST AND MOST INTERESTING WATER PLANTS OUTSIDE THE TRUE WATER LILIES—THE GORGEOUS 
LOTUSES, THE STATELY PAPYRUS, THE CURIOUS WATER HYACINTHS, AND THE BRILLIANT YELLOW WATER POPPY 
ING more stately plants adorn our gar- 
dens than the lotuses. Their great, cir- 
cular peltate leaves stand three or four feet 
above the water on stiff slender stocks. 
The leaf is often a little funnel-shaped, so 
that it catches the rain in a silvery pool at the 
centre. The surface is never wetted. Then, 
as the leaves bow before a breath of wind, 
each empties its cup of water into the 
pond. The flowers stand as high as, or 
higher, than the leaves. They are eight to 
twelve inches across, with many broad 
petals which stand out in all directions. 
The American lotus (Nelumbo lutea) is 
native from New Jersey to Ontario, Minne- 
sota, and Texas. I have gathered leaves 
larger around than a wash tub and flowers 
3. A ‘‘floating-heart’” that resembles the water poppy 
but has smaller flowers. (Limnocharis nymphoides) 
fully ten inches in diameter. The flower is 
creamy white or of a very pale yellow. It is 
not a vigorous plant in cultivation, but will 
do nicely if kept free from competition. It 
is quickly crowded out by its cousin, the pink 
or Indian lotus (often and wrongly called 
Egyptian lotus, Nelumbo nucifera), known 
to dealers as Nelumbium speciosum. 
The last named species resembles the 
former in all respects, except color of flower 
and vigor of growth. The flowers of the 
4. Bur-reeds have interesting, brownish, globular, 
bur-lixe heads. For edges of ponds. Native. (Spar- 
ganium eurycarpum) 
latter are larger than those of the former, 
and each petal is tipped with rosy pink. At 
the centre of the flower is a big yellow 
receptacle like an inverted cone, surrounded 
by innumerable yellow stamens. These 
great blossoms are among the noblest 
products of the vegetable world. They 
fairly glow in the morning sunshine. In 
180 
grace, dignity, and repose they are not 
equalled. No wonder they figure sym- 
bolically in the ever-repeated Buddhist 
prayer, “Om! mani padme hum!”—“O! 
the jewel in the lotus-flower.” 
The pink lotus is perfectly hardy at New 
5. Parrot’s feather, a finely cut plant for decorating 
vases in formal water gardens. Tender 
York. It once grew in great profusion in 
a mill dam at Bordentown, N. J., where 
it was introduced by E. D. Sturtevant. 
The roots must be protected from freezing 
by means of litter or a sufficient depth of 
water. 
Several varieties of the pink lotus have 
been produced in Japan, and are also 
available here. Rosea has deep rose-col- 
ored petals; there is also a double form of 
this. Shiroman is a nearly white, very 
double form. Kinshiren is also very double, 
and is of medium stature and free flowering. 
With this last kind I once had good success 
in growing it in a half barrel. It produced 
three flowers the first year, but I failed to 
get it through the winter alive. 
Lotuses grow by long rootstocks, which 
