Frog Bit.
Morsus ranae.
A little plant, not uncommon on waters, with round leaves and small white flowers. It has been by the common writers called a kind of water lily, because its leaves are round, and it floats upon the water, but it is as distinct as any thing can be, when we regard the flower. Duck weed has round leaves, and floats upon the water, and it might be called water lily for that reason, if that were sufficient. The leaves are of a roundish figure, and a dusky dark green colour: they are of the breadth of a crown piece, and they rise many together in tufts, from the same part of the stalk. This stalk runs along at a little distance under the surface of the water, and from it descend the roots, but they do not reach down into the mud, but play loose like the fibres of duck-weed in the water. The flowers stand singly upon slender foot-stalks; they are white, and composed of three leaves apiece, which give them a singular appearance.
The fresh leaves are used in outward applications, and are very cooling.
