54 



THE FAMILY AQUAEIUM. 



No. 14. Water Cress, everybody is familiar with. It 

 grows on the margin of, and is sometimes immersed in clear 

 streams, over nearly all the globe. In France, the Cress is 

 cultivated for the table in clear streams, being inserted in 

 rows in the direction of the current. The flowers are 

 small and white. 



Nos. 15, 16, and lY. Water Lilies. The white lily 

 belongs, botanically, to the Nym^Jma, and the yellow to 

 the Najphar. They embellish our lakes and slowly-moving 

 waters, and are amongst the most elegant and handsome 

 of aquatic plants. The leaves are rounded and heart- 

 shaped, supported on stalks so long as to enable them to 

 float on the surface. The flowers are large, and contain 

 numerous petals, so as to appear double. In color, some 

 are a brilliant white, occasionally possessing a tinge of 

 red, and diffuse a delightful fragrance ; some, again, are 

 yellow, and these are called, in England, on account of 

 their peculiar fragrance, the Brandy Bottle." It has 

 broad, shining leaves, that form a pleasant resting-place 

 for the amphibia — such animals as live both in the air 

 and water. The flowers raise themselves, every morning, 

 out of the water and expand. In the afternoon they close 

 again, as if for slumber. The famous Lotus of the Nile, 

 is a lily with flowers of a pink color, and leaves with a 

 toothed margin. The roots are still cooked and eaten in 

 Egypt, and the seeds bruised and made intfe bread, as 

 they were in the time of Herodotus and Theophrastus. 



No. 18. Duckweeds are not so attractive to the eye, 



