182 
EAs, 
8. The water poppy (Limnocharis Humboldtii). 
as to bring the roots near the surface. It 
sends out copious runners, two or three feet 
long, on which are many round, dark green 
leaves, about twice as big as a dollar Over 
and among the shiny foliage rise innu- 
merable brilliant yellow flowers as big as 
the leaves. They look a good deal like 
California poppies (Eschscholzia). Each 
flower lasts only one day, but the succession 
is never failing. I have hada dozen flowers 
at a time in one corner of a 4-foot tank. 
The water poppy is tender and must be 
kept growing throughout the winter in 
a warm tank. 
SOME. FASCINATING SUBMERGED PLANTS 
Not a little beauty is added to the water 
garden by wholly, or almost wholly, sub- 
merged plants. What is more fascinating 
than to look down through crystal waters 
into waving tufts of green and purple foliage, 
fanned by the lithe movements of orna- 
mental fishes? Nearly all submerged leaves 
are divided into thread-like lobes. So it 
is with the cabomba (C. Caroliniana). 
This makes luxuriant green plumes, growing 
in great bunches one to two feet long. It 
Brilliant lemon colored flowers, 24 inches across 
is hardy in two feet of water at Philadelphia, 
and grows wild near Washington, D. C. 
It is the commonest plant sold _ for 
aquaria. 
The bladderworts are also beautiful for 
under-water effects, especially the purple 
one (Utricularia purpurea). It grows in 
big loose tufts, extremely soft and fine. 
Each leaf bears a number of tiny bladders, 
which catch small insects for the nourish- 
ment of the plant. I have never seen this 
species in cultivation. The common blad- 
derwort (U. vulgaris) and the inflated blad- 
derwort (U. inflata) float freely in the water, 
usually near or at the surface. They have 
yellow flowers. All of the aquatic bladder- 
worts require very still water, either in 
summer or winter. 
FOR BORDERING PONDS 
A good foliage plant for the border and 
for the decoration of vases and aquaria is 
the parrot’s feather (Myriophyllum proser- 
pinacoides). It grows in slender feathery 
plumes. The leaves are very many, finely 
divided, and arranged on all sides of the 
stem. It grows rooted in earth at the edge 
GARDEN MAGAZINE 
NOVEMBER, 1906 
of the pond, and spreads out in a broad 
feathery cushion of bright green. In au- 
tumn take in a few sprigs and put the ends 
in a bottle of water. It will grow all winter 
like an “air-plant” without earth, but will 
do better with some soil in the bottle. I 
know a shallow, sheltered pond of spring 
water near Philadelphia where it lives out 
of doors from year to year. 
We may also have along the margin of 
the pond species of Marsilea. It is a water- 
fern, but does not resemble any other fern. 
The leaves float or stand erect and look like 
four-leaved clovers. It is a nice, harmless 
little thing. The European Marsilea (M. 
quadrifolia) is quite hardy in New England. 
A really fern-like water-fern is the horn fern 
(Cerato pteris thalictroides). It is well known in 
European botanical gardens, but is rarely 
seen in America. The sterile leaves are 
divided into many small oval segments, 
making a feathery light green frond ten 
or fifteen inches high. When one of these 
leaves falls over into the water, a young 
plant springs from every axil and cleft. 
The fruiting fronds have filiform segments, 
with revolute margins. The innumerable 
spores germinate freely in water or on wet 
earth. It is in this way that new plants are 
best secured. The plant is naturally an 
annual, but it may be wintered in a warm 
tank. Set it out in shallow water (one to 
four inches deep) after warm weather is 
established. 
Many curiosities may be added to the 
water garden, some of which also have a 
real place in the general effect of the garden. 
The golden club (Ovontium aquaticum) is 
interesting for its yellow finger-like blooms, 
which come out soon after the ice melts. 
The spotted callas (Richardia albo-maculata) 
may adorn the margin here and there. ‘The 
native pickerel-weed (Pontederia cordata) 
and the lizard’s tail (Saururus cernuus), 
with flower spikes of blue and white respec- 
tively, are useful in some places. On the 
water’s surface the floating moss (Azolla 
9. The pale blue water hyacinth (Kichhornia azurea) does not have bladders like 
It is floated by the extraordinarily long leaf stalks 
the common Kind. 
10. The “water snowflake” bears thousands of small, beautifully fringed, white flow- 
ers. (Limnanthemum Indicum). Its hardy equivalent is our native L. trachyspermum 
