[Plate 56.] 



THE TWO-ROWED APONOGETE. 



(aponogeton distachyon.) 



A Hardy Aquatic, from the Cape of Good Hope, belonging to the Natural Order of Areowgrasses 



(Juncaginacece) . 



Specific Character. 



THE TWO-ROWED APOjSTOGETE. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, seven-nerved ; spike two-parted ; bracts oblong 

 in two rows ; cap taper-pointed ; stamens twelve. 



Aponogeton distachyon : Linncei Supplementum, p. 215 ; Andrew's Repository, t. 290 ; Botanical Magazine, t. 1292. 



"TT^E reproduce this plant in the hope of presenting a better figure of it than has yet 

 \ * appeared, and of drawing attention to a hardy aquatic of which too little is known. 

 Many years have elapsed since it was reported that a handsome sweet-scented water- 

 plant from the Cape had been naturalised in the tanks of the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. 

 It was to the species before us that allusion was made, and it has since found its way, here 

 and there, southward. It was introduced into Cornwall by Sir Charles Lemon, where, as 

 well as in Devonshire, it seems to have as completely established itself as if it were a native 

 of the county. 



The correspondent who first brought the Devonshire plant under our notice expressed 

 a doubt whether it was really the two-rowed Aponogete, its flowers being so much larger 

 than they are represented in books. There is, however, no doubt about its name being 

 correct, the differences that have been remarked being the mere result of exuberant 

 luxuriance. The specimens came from an open pond at Woolston, the seat of the Rev. 

 Charles Osmond in the parish of Loddiswell, near Kingsbridge, South Devon, where the 

 plants thrive in a surprisingly luxuriant manner, producing thousands of delicious 

 fragrant flowers throughout the summer, and even in January bearing three hundred 

 blossoms as fine as those represented. Innumerable seedling plants arise around their 

 parents. To Mr. Osmond we are also indebted for the specimens, and for the following 

 history of his acquisition of the plant : — ■ 



28* 



