I 
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Cimnctntijtmum iaamosa. Natural Order: Gentianacece — Gentian Family. 
HIS is a curious water plant, usually found in stagnant ponds 
or quiet lakes, or even in rivers where the water has set 
back in some hollow on its shore, and where the current 
fails to stir its sleepy stillness. The leaves float on the sur¬ 
face, the stems always accommodating their length to the 
depth of the water. The flowers are small and white, from 
a half to three-quarters of an inch broad, and arranged in the form 
of an umbel, appearing one at a time on the top of the water and 
expanding. It is sometimes called Floating Heart, and is found most 
!g» frequently in the States bordering on the Atlantic. Its botanical 
name is from the Greek limne , a lake or pool, and anthemon , a 
fyflower; the Latin lacmiosa added, merely reduplicates the idea of 
fUx pond or marsh. There are at present but nine species enumerated. 
T T OW much they err, who, to their interest blind, 
A Slight the calm peace which from retirement flows! 
And while they think their fleeting joys to bind, 
Banish the tranquil bliss which heav’n for man design’d. 
— Mrs. Tig he. 
HEAR solitary groves where peace does dwell! 
Sweet harbors of pure love and innocence! 
How willingly could I forever stray 
Beneath the shade of your embracing greens, 
List’ning to the harmony of warbling birds, 
T7 
'HE shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, 
better brook than flourishing, peopled towns: 
There I can sit alone, unseen of any, 
And to the nightingale’s complaining notes 
Tune my distresses, and record my woes. 
— Shakespeare. 
180 
Tun’d with the gentle murmur of the streams: 
Upon whose banks, in various livery, 
The fragrant offspring of the early year, [down, 
Their heads, like graceful swans, bent proudly 
See their own beauties in the crystal flood. 
— Rochester. 
/"AH! by thy side, 
^ Far from the tumult and the throng of men, 
And the vain cares that vex poor human life, 
’Twere happiness to dwell alone with thee, 
And the wide, solemn grandeur of the scene. 
— Mrs. El let. 
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