- 
648 _ POLYANDRIA POLYGYNIA. Nelumbium. 
‘part which was the upper point before the leaf expand- 
ed, where it is emarginate with a point; the nerve that ter- 
minates in this point is simple and straight, all the other 
nerves, fifteen or thirty in number, are twice or thrice two- 
cleft; akove, the leaf is of a beautiful pea-green colour and 
of a very soft velvet-like texture; underneath is a cuticle 
which is frequently of a turgid red, covering innumerable 
small vescicles, these render the leaves specifically lighter 
than water; the breadth of the leaves from twelve to 
twenty-four inches, and the length, from the emarginated 
point to the opposite margin, from nine to eighteen inch- 
es. Petioles of various length, according to the depth 
of the water, being always sufficiently long to admit of 
the leaf floating; round, rigid, as thick as a rattan, or 
thicker, armed with many small inoffensive prickles, 
and perforated with four larger and many smaller pores. 
Peduncles radical, one-flowered, of various length, round, 
thicker than the petioles, rigid, frequently tinged red, 
armed with small inoffensive prickles, and perforated 
with from six to seven large and many small holes. In 
* the rose-coloured China variety, the prickles are sharper 
and more numerous. Flowers large and beautiful beyond 
description, particularly in the rose-coloured varieties, 
nearly inodorous, about nine or ten inches in diameter 
when expanded, they are then elevated a few inches 
above the surface of the water. Calyx none. Corol ma- 
ny-petalled (from fifteen to sixty,) the exterior ones small, - 
and coloured, green on the outside, the middle series 
large, the interior lessening in size, all concave, ‘ob- 
long, with a minute point, lower part pale rose-coloured, 
deepening toward the apex. Filaments numerous (from 
“two to three hundred) inserted in several series with- 
in the petals, round the base of the receptacle and 
about one half its length. | Anthers linear, as long as 
< the filaments, which elevate their apices a little above 
the surface of the solar each ‘crowned with a- 
