3s* 



THE VEGETATION OP THE ILLINOIS LOWLANDS. 



ourselves to a study of the botanical characteristics of the region. 

 From early summer until late autumn many a rare and beautiful 

 flower is here seen. Perhaps the finest display is in late summer, 

 when, over the higher borders of the marshes, where the lowland 

 rises to meet the upland prairie, grow hosts of purple phloxes, 

 mints, pentstemons and many other species, while here and there, 

 towering high over all the rest, are seen superb clusters of the 

 rose-pink Spiraea lobata, well called " queen of the prairie." On 

 lower ground and in more moist soil, are several species of ger- 

 ardia with rose-purple flowers, some of the more delicate bei 

 ceedingly graceful, the whole plant covered with beautifully tinted 

 flowers, being an airy panicle of bloom. Other species with yel- 

 low flowers and of less graceful habit are found on drier ground 

 With these charming plants are found blue lobelias, purplish 01 

 blue veronicas, white chelone and a large representation of poly 

 gonums or knot-grasses, with flowers of crimson, rose, white oi 

 greenish hues, most of them neither very attractive nor conspicu- 

 ous individually, but when growing in masses the effect is often 

 very pleasing, and in the case of Polygonum ampMbium even 

 brilliant, its deep crimson wands making many a pool bright and 

 beautiful. Much taller than these are the umbelliferse, some spe- 

 cies of which rival small trees in size, the white flower clusters 

 standing seven or eight feet above the ground. Not infrequently 

 from some darker, shadier nook flashes the brilliant red of the 

 cardinal flower, while just above the smaller herbs, sometimes like 

 a cloud of variegated mist, wave the panicles of purplish, yellow- 

 ish or greenish grasses and sedges, the light green of the wild rice 

 being often especially noticeable. In the water, besides many of 

 the grasses and sedges, are found pennywort, several species of 

 ranunculus, sagittaria, pontederia, lemna, azolla, peltandra, beauti- 

 ful pond lilies, which seem to attain their largest size in this re- 

 gion, and many other plants of similar habit. Among these 

 smaller species, or by itself alone, grows the great nelumbium, 

 giant among our aquatic plants, of interest because of its kinship 

 with the Egyptian lotus. This covers many acres, often extend- 

 ing for several miles in great patches. The large cream-colored 

 corollas, standing often five or six feet above the water, arc very 

 conspicuous and attractive, as are also the leaves, their great 

 disks, one to two feet in diameter, l\in<r on the surface of the 



