FLORAL BEAUTIES OF OUR BOGS AND PONDS. 



267 



tulip, the base of the petals being creamy white, most 

 beautifully and delicately shaded off toward the ends 

 into bright pink. In their last stages of expansion they 

 measure from 10 to 13 inches from tip to tip of petals. 

 There is also a pure white variety of this species, another 

 tinged with crimson stripes, and one of a deep rose pink. 



Last but not least of the water-lily group is ]'ictoria 

 reffia, the queen of the family, which is a native of 

 South America, named in honor of Queen Victoria. It 

 produces leaves six feet across, one plant covering a space 

 30 feet in diameter. The flowers are from one to two 

 feet in width. The first night that they open they are a 

 lovely white and emit a delicious perfume, resembling 

 that of pineapples. The 

 second night the flowers have 

 changed to pink and have 

 lost their perfume. The 

 leaves turn up two or three 

 inches at the margin, and 

 have curious veins that form 

 a strengthening framework, 

 giving them sufficient 

 strength and buoyancy to 

 support a child. 



In bold contrast with this 

 green giant is the delicate 

 little floating - heart {Lim- 

 yianthemum lacunosiim) of 

 our own ponds. Although it 

 is like a miniature water-lily, 

 it belongs to t h e gentian 

 family. Its mottled, heart- 

 shaped leaves are anchored 

 by slender threads, and on 

 their under side is a wonder- 

 ful little tufted structure, 

 from which come to the 

 surface, one after another, 

 the delicate little white flow- 

 ers, hardly more than inch 

 across. If the anchor-line 

 becomes broken they do not 

 mind it, but float happily 

 away to wherever they may 

 be carried by wind or current 



and still continue to grow and ripen their seed. This 

 happy disposition makes them desirable plants to pick, 

 for they will thrive and bloom as well in a fish-globe or 

 platter as when anchored in the pond. 



Their English sister, Liinuauthcmum iiymphccoidcs, 

 the yellow flower of the Lock-shop pond, sometimes 

 called villarsia, is a very different plant. Its flowers are 

 somewhat the color and form of cucumber flowers, and 

 remain open nearly all day. The smooth and ribbed mid- 

 dle portion of each of its five divisions is narrowly ellipti- 

 cal, giving the flower a starry appearance, while the outer 

 portions are delicately crape-like. It is an exquisite flower 

 for close examination, and when picked and placed in 

 water will keep on growing until all the flower-buds 



develop. It is perfectly hardy, and altogether too rank 

 a grower to be placed where space is desired for some- 

 thing else. When fairly started it literally makes a 

 golden lake. I doubt if there is any other plant that 

 will cover so much space, or furnish so many flowers in 

 one season . 



The water poppv, LimiincJiaris Humboldlii, is often 

 confounded with the limnanthemum, but it is very dif- 

 ferent. Its three broad petals of bright sulphur-yellow 

 are in pleasing contrast with its beautiful purple stamens. 

 The flowers, which stand up out of the water above its 

 oval floating leaves, open in the morning, close about 

 four o'clock in the afternoon, and then fall down into 



Brave Show of Nelumbiums in a Com.mecticut Pond. 



the water, never to rise again. It is a rank grower, well 

 adapted for tub culture. Although it must be wintered 

 in the greenhouse, the cost of the plant is so small, and 

 a small plant grows large so soon, that we can well afford 

 to buy a new plant every season. 



The water-hyacinth, Ponlcdcria crassipes, is an odd 

 plant and a good one to grow in a tub. Its thick shiny 

 leaves are on inflated bulb-like petioles, producing lovely 

 spikes of light purple flowers. The rootlets, which are 

 also purple, are very fine and feathery, and quite as 

 charming as the flowers. The inflated petioles en- 

 able the plant to float, but more flowers are obtained by 

 setting the plant in rich loam. When so treated its 

 petioles elongate and lose their expanded form, as if 



