466 TRANS. OF THE ACAD. OP SCIENCE. 



Berlandier 1571 and 2556 in part) have few (3-8) large glo- 

 bose 20-50-flowered heads. Capsule rarely exceeding the 

 calyx, and then approaching var. /?. Seeds variable within 

 the limits of the species, slender, or sometimes thick. Hb. 

 n. 56 is a taller and 57 a slenderer form with fewer flowered 

 heads, from Michigan, Bigelow ; 58 and 59 are what Meyer 

 named J. paradoxus, the former a smaller-flowered form from 

 S. Carolina, Havenel, the latter a larger-flowered one from 

 Delaware, Commons. 



Var. /?. debilis is distinguished by the mostly very weak 

 stem, \-l\ feet high, sometimes reclining, and even decum- 

 bent and rooting; panicle loose-flowered, 3-6 inches long; 

 flowers 1.2-1.5 lines long; capsule very pale, more or less 

 protruding beyond the calyx ; seeds the smallest in the spe- 

 cies. A rather small but rigid form comes from South Caroli- 

 na, Hb. n. 60, Bavenel, and a similar autumnal one, in which 

 the heads by renewed vegetation of their axis degenerate into 

 spikes, has been sent by the same botanist, ib. 61. 



Var. y. diffusissimus, stouter, 2-2^ feet high, with a panicle 

 8 or 9 inches long and fully as wide ; fruit-heads 5 lines in 

 diameter; flowers li lines, or, with the straw-colored radiating 

 capsules, fully 2\ lines long; seeds as in last. 



Var. 6. robustus is a very different looking plant, which in 

 the hot Nelumbium swamps of the Mississippi bottoms grows 

 even 4 feet high, with a stem 3 lines in diameter and leaves 

 in proportion, which, however, do not reach beyond the base 

 of the inflorescence; panicle 6-10 inches long and a little less 

 across, with fruit-heads only 2 lines in diameter ; flowers 

 smaller than in the other forms, 1.1-1.2 lines long, and cap- 

 sules more obtuse than in the others, with a short mucro ; 

 seeds among the larger ones. — The specimens distributed in 

 Hb. n. 62 are, owing to the very dry season, not so well de- 

 veloped as the plant is often seen, nor did the fruit mature at 

 all in that or the following year. It is an interesting fact ob- 

 served by me for many years, that, if not in the whole Mis- 

 sissippi Valley, at least in this neighborhood, our ponds and 

 lakes become lower every year, their rich vegetation is be- 

 coming extinct, and many have dried up altogether. Our 

 beautiful Nelumbium, which twenty and ten years ago was 

 an ornament to many sheets of water on hill as well as low- 

 land in this vicinity, hiding them under their broad velvety 

 leaves, and from the end of June to the middle of August dot- 

 ting them with their splendid cream-white flowers, is fast dis- 

 appearing in consequence of the retrocession of those waters, 

 and with it its companions the Sagittarne, the Spargania, the 

 Junci, the Scirpi, the Zizania, and many of their minor attend- 

 ants. But what botany and beauty loses, cultivation gains, 

 and, above all, the health of the neighborhood. 



