Phyllody in Nelumbo. 



{WITH PIRATE XXVIII.) 



By Henry S. Conard, Ph. D. 



A new dwarf lotus recently imported from Japan by 

 Messrs. Dreer, of Philadelphia, shows remarkable rever- 

 sions in the floral parts. The variety comes to us under the 

 name of Nelumbium Cihawan (?), but is likely to be put 

 upon the American market as Nelumbo pygmaea alba plena. 

 It is easily cultivated. In a half barrel one may have five 

 or six flowers at a time, and fifteen or twenty leaves. The 

 latter are four to six or eight inches in diameter, of the 

 usual peltate form, on petioles about eighteen inches high. 

 Among the leaves or slightly above them are the creamy 

 white "double" flowers, three to four inches across. 



As is usual in Nelumbo the perianth leaves grade insen- 

 sibly from the small triangular fibrous outer members to the 

 large soft petals farther in. In this double form there is also 

 a gradual transition from petal to stamen, as is so well 

 known in roses, etc. These parts are all normally inserted 

 around the stem at the base of the inverted cone-shaped 

 carpellary receptacle. 



The carpels have changed into large, hollow, leafy organs, 

 open by a slit along one side and are deeply cucullate at the 

 rounded upper end. Instead of being inserted in individual 

 excavations of the receptacle, all of the three or four carpels 

 are attached at the base of a single cavity. The cavity is 

 about two-thirds as deep as the total height of the receptacle, 

 and the rim is slightly scalloped, showing an indication of 

 the separate cavities. The cup is very plainly an outgrowth 

 from the upper part of the true receptacle. A number of 



(3So) 





