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. [Illustration: THE MARSH VALERIAN.] In the marshes of South Britain we may often meet with the pretty Marsh Valerian (_Valeriana dioica_) of the _Valerianaceæ_. It grows from six to eight inches high, and its flowers, which bloom during May and June, are of a pale rose colour, in a terminal corymb. They are mostly unisexual, the male and female flowers growing on different plants. All have a tubular corolla, pouched at the base, with five spreading lobes; but the female blooms are more densely crowded than the males, and are of a deeper colour. The former have an inferior ovary, with a slender style and a lobed stigma; and the latter have three stamens on the corolla.