of size and robustness of growth over either of its parents; but 
its most valuable property is its continuing to flower the whole 
of the season without intermission. The present plant produced 
its first flower as early as the 12th of April, 1851, and continued 
to flower till the middle of October, when it was removed with a 
fine succession of flower-buds still upon the plant to its winter 
quarters. During this period it often had two expanded flowers 
and five buds’ in different stages of development. It produces its 
flowers quite as freely as WV. dentata*. Its beautiful colour (which 
is not quite so deep as its parent), and its large size, which has 
often been as much as eight inches in diameter, together with its 
fine leaves, which are seldom less than thirteen to seventeen inches 
across, render it one of the best Mympheas in cultivation.” 
Our living plant at Kew, the possession of which we owe to 
Mrs. Spode, as well as fine cut specimens we have received for 
figuring from Armitage, and noble fresh samples at this moment 
lying before us (July 16, 1852) sent by Mr. Davison from Sir W. 
Molesworth’s tropical aquarium, Pencarron, Cornwall, amply jus- 
tify all that Sir Joseph Paxton has said above ; and we trust yet 
to live to see a well-constructed tank, in which the variously- 
coloured Nelumbia and Nymphee, now known to us, including 
the majestic WV. gigantea (see our Tab. 2647), lately imported by 
Messrs. Standish and Noble, shall be suitably grouped. 
Mr. Davison observes, that with him Devoniensis grows and 
flowers most freely, planted in rough turf taken from a pasture 
and laid in a heap one year previous to its being used, with one- 
sixth of dried cow’s-dung. The water in the tank in which it 
grows is kept from 75° to 80°. 
Fig. 1. Portion of the under side of the leaf seen near the petiole :—natural size. 
2. Ovary and stigma with part of the ray removed :—natural size. 3. Anther :— 
magnified. 
* The name NV. dentata is introduced here as if it were one of the parents 
of N. Devoniensis, rather than N. Lotus, as previously mentioned. N. Totus and 
_ NV. dentata are very closely allied species, if they be really and truly distinct. 
_ At our Tab. 4257 I have pointed out in the pale and depressed base of the 
calyx of NV, dentata, giving that ~ a somewhat conical form, what may perhaps 
prove a distinguishing mark, and that character we find in N. Devomiensis. 0) 
Davison, at Pencarron Gardens, speaks of the N. Devoniensis as “a hybrid bee 
tween N. rubra and N. dentata.” z 
