Some Common Trench Flowers. 
By C. A, Lloyd. 
MUDDY dirty-looking trench is of all places 
the last that one would think of seeking to 
gather flowers, nevertheless our trenches are the 
homes of many forms of plant life which, although hardly 
noticeable to the ordinary passer by, are yet so singular 
and interesting that they hardly fail to excite his curiosity 
if he stops and examines them closely. 
Stri6lly speaking, it cannot be said that the Victoria 
regia and the large pink flowered Nelumbium speciosum 
belong to the category of trench plants, for although 
flourishing luxuriantly in these situations, they do not 
occur naturally, but are introdu6lions, the former from 
the great rivers of the interior and the latter from the East 
Indies. They are bothsuch striking and remarkable plants, 
that the stranger sauntering down Carmichael and Water- 
loo Streets never fails to see and admire the large circular 
leaves of the one and the bright pink flowers of the other. 
Sanitary precautions have lately rendered necessary 
the filling up of the trench in Main Street, but one can- 
not help regretting the destru6lion entailed on the Vic- 
toria regia which was formerly so attra6live an ornament 
to the street. 
The discovery of the Vi6loria regia is usually attributed 
to Sir Robert Schomburgk, but it appears that many 
years before Sir Robert saw it on the Berbice River, it 
had been observed in Brazil by the German traveller 
Thaddeus Haenke. Shortly after this the plant was 
