128 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
plants, to the present accommodations consisting of the pools 
in formal setting between the main entrance and the large 
conservatories, the natural ponds among the knolls, and the 
pools west of the Italian garden, in all of which combined 
over two hundred plants are grown during the summer. The 
Garden collection, including the many new hybrids, is con- 
ceded to comprise the finest tropical day-blooming varieties in 
the country. 
xX NYMPHAEA “MRS. G. H. PRING” PRING 
NEW WHITE-FLOWERED HYBRID 
(N. ovalifolia & N. ‘‘Mrs. Edwards Whitaker’’) 
According to commercial ‘growers there is an increasing 
demand by the public for a tropical white day-blooming lily 
of large size. Up to, the present time all tropical day- 
blooming water-lilies have ranged in eolor,from pink to blue, 
with one exception, the species Nymphaea gracilis. The 
African species, N. ovalifolia, of recent introduction, has 
white flowers shaded with blue and pink at the apex of the 
petals. In 1919 experiments were started at the Garden with 
the object of producing the much-needed albino hybrid. Stock 
of Nymphaea ‘‘Mrs. Edwards Whitaker’’ was selected as a 
desirable parent, in view of the pale campanula-blue flowers 
bleaching to pure white with age, a factor transfused through 
its parent, N. ovaltfolia. The seed parent was between 
N. gracilis of Mexico and N. ovalifolia. Hybrids from N. 
gracilis in cultivation have not improved the offspring in size 
to the same degree as N. ovalifolia, nor has the white proved 
a recessive character in the second or third generations. In 
fact, experiments at the Garden with gracilis hybrids did not 
produce type gracilis or revert back to it (see Ann. Mo, Bot. 
Gard. vol. 4, p. 1).. Nymphaea ovalifolia crosses so far have 
brought forth type ovalifolia in the second generation. 
Nymphaea ovalifolia was therefore selected as the other parent. 
Reciprocal crosses were made between N. ‘‘Mrs. Edwards 
Whitaker”’ and ovalifolia, producing varieties like the parent 
‘Mrs. Edwards Whitaker.’’ Nymphaea ovalifolia & ‘‘Whit- 
aker’’ gave the desired result, producing both albino and Whit- 
aker varieties. The best-flowered seedling showing Whitaker- 
shaped petals with white as the dominant factor was selected 
