The Marsh Potentil.
The other is the Bog Stitchwort (S. uliginosa)—a smooth, slender plant, with a spreading, four-angled stem, and narrow-ovate leaves that terminate in a stiff point. In marshy or boggy ground its stems are straggling, and often near a foot in length; but on drier soils they are much shorter, and the plant more tufted. The flowers are much smaller—only about a quarter of an inch in diameter, and are arranged in loose, terminal cymes. Their petals are shorter than the sepals, and are very deeply divided into two narrow spreading lobes. This species flowers during May and June.
The Rose family (Rosaceæ) includes the Purple Marsh Cinquefoil or Marsh Potentil (Comarum palustre or Potentilla palustris)—a stout plant, varying from six to eighteen inches high, the whole generally more or less tinged with purple. The flowers are of a dull purple-brown colour, in loose clusters, and bloom from May to July. The sepals, which are longer than the petals, have narrow outer segments, and longer, broad, inner segments with long, sharp points. This species is widely distributed, but is very local in the southern counties of England.
The Golden Saxifrage.
In shady marshes we may often meet with one or other of the two pretty little Golden Saxifrages (order Saxifragaceæ), and sometimes the both growing together. One of them—the Common Golden Saxifrage (Chrysosplenium oppositifolium), is very abundant, often covering large patches of marsh with its golden leaves and flowers. It is a tender, succulent plant; with a decumbent stem, either simple, or branched near the top, and rooting at the base. The leaves are opposite, almost round, about half an inch in diameter, with wavy margins, and a few scattered hairs on the upper side. The lower ones are shortly stalked, and the upper generally of a golden colour. The flowers are very small, in little, crowded, terminal clusters, surrounded by the upper leaves. They have a calyx of four spreading sepals; no petals; eight stamens joined to the base of the sepals; and an inferior ovary divided above into two conical lobes.
The other species is the Alternate-leaved Golden Saxifrage (C. alternifolium)—a very similar plant, but generally of a lighter colour, and its leaves are always alternately arranged. Both species have yellow flowers which bloom from April to July; and both grow to a height of from two to five inches. The latter is much less common than the former, but is very widely distributed.
The Marsh Pennywort or White Rot (Hydrocotyle vulgaris) is a peculiar umbelliferous plant, common in marshes and bogs, with a slender stem that creeps in the mud, rooting at every joint; and tufts of long-stalked leaves which rise above the surface of the water. The latter are round, with waved margins, about an inch in diameter, glossy, and stalked in the centre. The minute white flowers are collected into little five-flowered umbels, on stalks much shorter than those of the leaves, each individual flower having a very short pedicel, and five spreading petals. This plant flowers from May to August.