TAXONOMY NYMPHAEA RUDGEANA. 205 



sistent. Seeds 1,000 to 8,000, short-elliptic, 1.15 mm. in diameter by 1.6 mm. long, 

 to 1.3 mm. by 2.2 mm., shining, greenish-gray. Mature leaf sinuate-dentate. Petiole 

 naked at point of insertion. Tuber producing stolons only when first germinating 

 from the dry state. Flowers imperfectly open two or three nights, rarely entirely 

 open before midnight. Buds ovate-oblong. 



Nymfhaca Rudgcana, G. F. W. Meyer 1818. Grisebach 1864. Caspary 1878. Garden 1883 b 

 Conard 1901 a. 



N. amfla /? rudgcana, Plauchon 1853 b. Not N. ainpla, DeCandolle 1821 b. 



N. blanda, Planchon 1853 b; 1856. Caspary MS. in several herbaria, written about 1865 and be- 

 fore. Not Meyer 1818. 



N. blanda ft amasouum, Planchon 1856. 



N. amazonum, Hort. Glasnevin ; Planchon 1856. Not Mart. & Zucc. 1832. 



N. tropaeolifolia, Lehmann 1853 a. 



N. sinuata, Salzm. MS. as to the leaf, fid. specimens coll. Salzmann, No. 381, Bahia, in hbb. Kew, 

 Berlin, Paris, Delessert. Flower is of N. amfla. 



N. lotus Lunan, Hort. Jam. z: 271, 1814 (fid. Caspary, 1. c.). Not Linnaeus 1753. 



N. Candollcana, Lehmann 1853 a, as to the flower, fid. original specimen from hb. Lehmann in lib. 

 Berlin; the leaf is of N. ampla. 



N. Planchonii, Caspary MS. as to the leaf, fid. specimen in hb. Berlin; flower is of N. mcxicana. q. v. 



DESCRIPTION. Floiver 65 to 155 mm. in diameter, open imperfectly on two or 

 three nights from twilight until dawn, or usually closing at 2 or 3 o'clock a. m., or 

 even by 1 1 p. m. ; sometimes a passage is opened directly into the stigmatic basin, but 

 often the inner petals remain closed over the stamens and do not open at all. Ends 

 oblong, obovate, not acuminate. Sepals 4, subcoriaceous, short-oblong, ovate, acute 

 or obtuse, sub-cucullate, obtusely sub-carinate on the back, nerveless ; outside yellowish 

 at base, suffused with red, pale brownish-green above; without spots, or rarely with dull 

 purple lines; inside pale greenish-yellow with 7 to 8 veins. Petals 12 to 32, usually 16 

 or 20, greenish-yellow. Outer petals oblong, elliptic, rather obtuse, 9-veined ; petals of 

 second whorl uncinate-cucullate at apex ; petals of third whorl attached to the recep- 

 tacle 3 mm. above the second, close to the inner petals and stamens, shortly ovate- 

 lanceolate, attenuate above ; inner petals gradually narrower and more attenuate above. 

 Stamens 43 to 83, inserted at the summit of the receptacle; outer four petaloid, 

 grading inward to those with linear filaments narrower than their anthers ; all of the 

 stamens are pale yellowish. Pollen smooth, with equatorial and parallel circles. 

 Carpels n to 24. Styles spirally coiled inward, shorter and more slender ones alter- 

 nating with longer and stouter ones, suggesting two alternating whorls. Stigma 

 funnel-shaped, orange yellow. Axile process ovate-cylindric, obtuse. Fruit depressed 

 globose, truncate, covered by the persistent sepals, petals and outer stamens ; stigma 

 deeply funnel-shaped. Seed with II to 21 meridians of hairs; raphe prominent. 

 Peduncles terete. 



First leaf of germinating plant filiform, followed by 8 to 12 submerged leaves. 

 Second leaf oblong, elliptic or ovate, with one primary vein on each side ; petiole 

 winged below ; roots two. Fourth or fifth leaf usually sub-cordate ; other submerged 

 leaves cordate, with 3 to 4 primary veins on each side. Early floating leaves elliptic 

 to short-oblong, fissi-cordate ; lobes obtusely acuminate; margin irregularly sinuate- 



