422 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



or bogs, and the margin of water, adds greatly to the enjoyment of 

 visitors, is a change from the ordinary subjects usually grown in such 

 positions, and is an incentive to the workers in such positions to render 

 their use attractive, decorative, and educational. 



Aquatic Plants. — Perhaps no section of plants is more interesting than 

 those associated with water, and certainly our native aquatic plants are 

 both numerous, interesting, and worthy of cultivation. It will be con- 

 venient to arrange them in accordance with their habit of growth. 



Two plants occur to me as typical of really noble foliage and form, the 

 great water dock (Rumex Hydrolapathum) and the butter-bur (Petasites 

 vulgaris). The former when growing in congenial surroundings, such 

 as the side of a stream or lake, or indeed any piece of water, is a noble 

 plant, often growing with leaves 18 inches long. It is not a plant 

 to coddle in any small pond or even to admit in the more cultivated 

 part of the garden, but on the outskirts of the pleasure-grounds or 

 by the side of water or the wild garden it is one of the most conspicuous 

 of our British aquatic plants. Petasites vulgaris, too, should be grown 

 only when it can ramble and develop without hindrance. Its large masses 

 of leaves, rivalling the Gunneras, form an excellent shelter and background 

 for less vigorous subjects, and bare banks may be often furnished and 

 rendered beautiful by the introduction of this sturdy British plant. 

 It is, perhaps, only fair to say that it is a rambling and encroaching 

 plant, and should be kept in check and not allowed to monopolize the 

 soil and ground away from the w r ater's edge. 



Two plants of the buttercup family can with great advantage be 

 associated with the cultivation of the butter-bur, Ranunculus Lingua, 

 the great spearwort, and the kingcup (Caltha palustris). 



The former is not so well known as the kingcup, but it is a very 

 handsome and striking plant, and well repays cultivation, growing often 

 to three feet, with bright green succulent foliage towering well above the 

 smaller growing plants. 



A mass of the kingcup (Caltha pahtstris) gives the waterside a great 

 attraction ; the plant flowers early, and lasts for many weeks, and even 

 after the harvest of golden flower there still remains the rich foliage. 

 To see the kingcup to perfection one must see it growing in the damp 

 and often flooded meadows along the valleys of the Colne and Great Ouse, 

 where in April and May one may see acres of its golden flood. 



Other waterside plants that give distinction to any sheet of ornamental 

 water are the yellow flag (Iris Pseud-acorus) and the purple loose-strife 

 (Ly thrum Salicaria). A mass of the yellow flag adds beauty to the most 

 formal bank or slope. Planted and grown with judgment and care, 

 with some liberally enriched soil near its roots, it is a truly handsome 

 plant with its erect and spear-like habit of growth, and gives beauty 

 of form to those plants surrounding it. The purple loose-strife is one 

 of those plants that gain by proximity to a clump of iris. The colour 

 of the loose-strife is deep and rich, but it is the contrast in growth that 

 is the most striking feature — the lovely waving branches of this plant 

 form such a picture when seen flowering in company with the clear 

 yellow of the iris that it does not need an artist to thoroughly 

 appreciate these two water-loving wildings. A walk along any river- 



