Butomus

Butomus, a genus of Helobiae, an order of aquatic monocotyledons sometimes called Marsh-lilies, of which one species, B. umbellatus, is frequent in ditches and ponds in England, Ireland, and many parts of Europe, but very rare in Scotland. It is popularly called Flowering Rush (juncus floridus of Ovid), and is one of the plants to which the praise has been assigned of being the most beautiful in the British flora. The leaves are all radical, 2 to 3 feet long, linear, triangular, their sharp edges sometimes cutting the mouths of cattle, whence the generic name (Gr., 'ox-cutting'). The flowering stem bears a large umbel of rose-coloured flowers, readily distinguished by their nine stamens, six in pairs opposite the outer perianth, and three opposite the inner.