132 



THE WATERLILIES. 



reddish brown, with 5 or 6 main air-canals, each with two very small canals outside. 

 Receptacle very narrow, sloping. Sepals 4 (or sometimes 5) lanceolate, breadth: 

 length = i : 3.4 to 3.6, obtuse or sub-acute ; outer surface dark green, marked with fine 

 brownish-black lines and dots, especially near the margins ; 9 longitudinal veins visible 

 by looking through the sepal at a light; inner surface dull greenish-white. Petals 13 

 to 24, lanceolate, tapering to base and apex, breadth : length = i : 3.7 in outermost 

 petals, crowded on lower part of torus. Outer surface of outermost petal sepaloid 



e d, e f 



FIG. b3.Nymphaea elegans; a, sepal ; b, petal of outermost whorl ; c, petal of second whorl ; 

 d, petal of innermost whorl ; e, outer stamen ; /, successively smaller stamens ; g, vertical section 

 of ovary. Natural size. 



FLORAL ORGANS. 



* Small flower, eai-ly in season. 



in midline, green, with blackish lines and dots, with 5 strong veins visible on looking 

 through ; edges and inner surface pale violet, nearly white, fading to dull whitish on 

 lower third of petal. Second row of petals a little shorter than first, pale violet above, 

 nearly white in lower half, 5-veined. Innermost petal narrowly lanceolate, colored like 

 second series, but very pale. Stamens So to 145, stout, yellow, about one-half the 

 length of the petals, inserted around the top of the ovary, leaving a bare space above 

 the petal insertions ; appendages very small, only present on the outer stamens. 

 Outermost filament narrowly elliptic, slightly broader than anther ; innermost tapering 



