2-913-789 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The New Water-Weed (Ancharis Alsinastrum), 1854. 'A remarkable plant has recently made its appearance in the rivers Ouse and Cam; and already abounds to such a degree as not only to impede navigation, but, what is of far more importance in this fen country, threatens to injure our drainage...The watermen on the river have already named it "Water-thyme," from a faint general resemblance which it bears to that plant...the leaves are...beset with minute teeth, which cause them to cling...Most of our water plants require, in order to their increase, to be rooted in the bottom or sides of the river or drain in which they are found; but this is independent altogether of that condition, and actually grows as it travels slowly down the stream, after being cut...Mr. Marshall...deduces the opinion that it is an importation from North America'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.