Genus i. 



SACRED BEAN FAMILY. 



77 



00, distinct, contained in pits in the large convex receptacle. Style short ; ovules i or 2, pen- 

 dulous or anatropous; endosperm none; cotyledons thick, fleshy. Nuts globose or oblong. 

 [Ceylon name for A'^. NeliDubo.] 



A genus of 2 or 3 species, one North American, one Jamaican, the other Asiatic and Australa- 

 sian, known as Sacred Bean or Water-bean. Type species ; Nymphaea Nelumbo L. 



Flowers pale yellow : plant native. i. N. liitea. 



Flowers pink or white ; plant introduced. 2. N. Nelumbo. 



1. Nelumbo lutea (Willd.) Pers. Amer- 

 ican Nelumbo or Lotus. Fig. 1837. 



Nehimbium luieum ^^"ilId. Sp. PI. 2: 1259. 1799. 

 Nelumbo lutea Pers. Syn. i : 92. 1805. 



Rootstock nearly horizontal, tuberiferous. 

 Emersed leaves i-2 broad, nearly orbicular 

 but often somewhat constricted in the middle, 

 centrally peltate, raised high out of water or 

 floating, prominently ribbed, glabrous above, 

 more or less pubescent and lepidote beneath, 

 the lower surface marked with an oblong, 

 transverse area ; petioles and peduncles thick, 

 3-7 long, with several large air-canals ; 

 flowers pale yellow, 4'-io' broad; petals con- 

 cave, obovate, obtuse ; anthers appendaged ; 

 fruit obconic or somewhat hemispheric, 3-4' 

 long; seeds nearly globular, 6" in diameter. 



In rivers and lakes, locally distributed from 

 Massachusetts to Minnesota, Nebraska and Louis- 

 iana. Cuba. N, jamaiccnsis, of Jamaica, closely 

 resembles this species, but may be specifically dis- 

 tinct. Tubers and seeds farinaceous, edible. Great 

 yellow water-lily. Water-chinkapin. Wankapin 

 or yankapin. Duck-acorn. Rattle- or water-nut. 

 July-Aug. 



2. Nelumbo Nelumbo (L.) Karst. Sa- 

 cred Bean. Indian Lotus. Fig. 1838. 



Nymphaea Nelumbo L. Sp. PI. 511. 1753. 

 Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. Fruct. & Sem. i : y^. 



pi. 19. 17S8. 

 Nelumbium speciosum Willd. Sp. PI. 2; IJ58. 



1799. 

 N. Nelumbo Karst. Deutsch. FI. 553. 1880-83. 



Leaves 2-3 in diameter, high exserted 

 above the water or some of them floating, 

 thin, concave, glaucous ; petioles and pe- 

 duncles 3-6 long, glabrous or with scat- 

 tered minute prickles; flowers 4-10' broad, 

 pink or sometimes white; petals oblong or 

 elliptic, obtuse ; fruit obconic, 4'-$' long, 3'-4' 

 in diameter; seeds oblong or ovoid. 



Naturalized in ponds about Bordentown, N. J., 

 where it was introduced by Mr. E. D. Sturtevant. 

 Native of India, Persia, China, Japan and Aus- 

 tralia. A superb plant, often cultivated. July- 

 Aug. 



Family 28. NYMPHAEACEAE DC. Propr. Med. Ed. 2, 119. 1816. 



Water Lily Family. 

 Perennial acaulescent herbs, witli more or less elongated often tuber-bearing 

 rootstocks. Leaves alternate: blades leathery or those of submersed leaves mem- 

 branous and delicate, all with a sinus at the base, petioled. Flowers perfect, ter- 

 minating elongated scapes. Sepals 4-6, often green. Petals numerous, usually 

 passing into staminodia or stamens, decaying. Androecium of numerous stamens. 

 Anthers introrse, adnate. Gynoecium of several or many carpels united into a 

 compound ovary. Stigmas united into a disk with radiating stigmatic lines. 



