14: 



F 



Gray to NympJma Mexicana, Zucc. One of the specimens, howev- 

 er, was sent to Sir William Hooker, and the plant raised from seed 

 accompanying it Hooker described and figured as a new species 

 under the name of Nymphcea elegans. Before or since, except a 

 single doubtful specimen, collected by Berlandier near Palo Alto, 



M 



Neither Lind- 



heimer, Fendler, nor any other Texan collector or botanist, has 

 ever detected it,* and NyjuphcBa elegaiis has stood for nearly forty 

 years in the North American flora on the strength of a single 

 collection at a single vaguely described station on the broad 

 prairies of Southwestern Texas. 



These preliminary remarks are necessary to explain the unusual 

 interest attached to some specimens of Nymphcea received the 

 past autumn, almost simultaneously, from two correspondentst at 

 Waco, in east central Texas. Upon the first inspection I took 

 these for a small form of N, odorata, approaching the variety 

 minor. Closer examination showed two strong marks of dis- 

 tinction. The seeds were globular instead of oblong, and the 

 sepals were very distinctly marked with slender, broken, longi- 

 tudinal brown lines. Reference to the check-hst and the Columbia 

 College herbarium led me directly to N. elegans^ of which I 

 could find no specimen in the herbarium, but, instead, a memo- 

 randum slip stating that this species has petals ** tipped with blue.'* 

 Examination as to this point showed a single petal, with a distinct 

 bluish tip ; the others were so faded that the original color could 

 not be ascertained. I then consulted the Plantae Wrightianac, and 

 found my plants agreeing closely wnth Wright's in the few par- 

 ticulars there noted, such as the size, slenderness, shape of leaf, 

 and particularly the globular, smooth seeds. The prominent 

 sepal markings, how^ever, were unmentioned. After long search? 

 I discovered in Walpers' Annales, Vol HI., a specific description, 

 and was more than pleased to find the brown-lined sepals (*'scp. 

 fusco-lineatis") especially mentioned. The petals were described 

 as white with a purple-blue tinge (*' pet. albis purpureo-cceruleo- 



*Dr. Sereno Watson is my authority for this statement. — E. E. S. 

 fit is an act of justice to name the two ladiesj both enthusiastic observers of the 

 flora of their region, who were thus instrumental in the rediscovery of A^. elegans. 



Texas, — E, E, S, 



Tudhh 



