60 VI. NYMP1I-^ACE.E. 



f 



OitDEn YI. NYMPHS ACE^. 



Sepals 3 to 5, petals 3 or more and stamens 6 or more, eitlier all free and 

 hypogyuous, or the inner ones or all aclnatc at the base to the torus or ovary, 

 or inserted on its summit. Anthers innate or adnate, the cells opening in longi- 

 tudinal slits. Gyncocium of 3 or more carpels, either free and distinct, or im- 

 mersed in the torus so as to form a several-celled ovary. Styles or stigmas 

 free or adnate on an epigynous disk. Ovules solitaiy, and snspended from the 

 apex of the cavity, or indefinite and attaclied to the sides of the cavity, not to 

 its inner angle. Kipe carpels indchiscent, free or nnited in a fleshy or spongy 

 fruit. . Seeds immersed in a fleshy or pulpous arillus, or naked, the embryo 

 either small, enclosed in the embryo-sac and half immersed in a cavity of a 

 farinaceous albumen near the hilum, or without albumen, large, n ith thick 

 fleshy cotyledons, and a remarkably developed plumule. — Atpiatic herbs, with 

 a submerged root or rhizome. Leaves carried by their long petioles to the 

 surface of the water or raised above it, usually peltate or deeply cordate, 

 or a few remaining under water and deeply cut. "Flowers growing shigly on 

 long radical scapes, or axillary peduncles, cither on the suiface of the water 

 or raised above it. 



The Order, although not numerous lu species, is fouud iu pure, quiet, or slowly-flowi^ig 

 waters nearly all over the globe. The three Australian species belong to the three genera, 

 considered ns typical of as many tribes or suborders, raised by some botanists to the rank of 

 distinct Orders. All three genera are common to the New and the Old World. They are « 



absent, however, from the southern Australian colonics as well as from New Zealand. 



Sepals and petals 3 each. Carpels 6 or more, free, on a small torus. 



Ovules few. Flowers small 1, Braseiiia, 



Sepals 4 to 6. Petals and stamens numerous, the outer ones free, the 

 inner more and more adnafe to the torus. Carpels immersed iu the 

 torus in a ring round a central conical projection 2. Njjwjihaa, 



Sepals 4 or 5. Petals and stamens numerous, hypogynous. Carpels 



half immersed without order iu the flat top of the torus. No albumen 3, Nelumbhm- 



1, BRASEWIA, Sehreb. 



(Hydro peltis, Mich) 



Sepals 3, petal-like, and petals 3, hypogyr.ous. Stamens 12 to 18, hypo- 

 gynous; filaments snbnlate, anther-eells lateral. Carpels 6 to 18, free, on a 

 small torus, attenuate at the top into short styles, stigmatic along the inner 

 edge. Ovules 2 or 3, pemlulous from the dorsal side of the cavity. Ripe 

 carpels coriaceous, indchiscent. Seeds albuminous. 



The genus is limited to the following species. 



1. B. peltata, FunL FL N. Jme?\ 389. Ehi'/omc prostrate at the 

 bottom of the water. Stems forked, leafy, covered as ^vcIl as other submerged 

 parts, especially when young, with a thick coating of transparent jelly. Leaves 

 floating on the surface of the water, peltately attached by their centre to long 

 petioles, oval, entire, 3 to 4 in, long and about half as broad. Peduncles 

 axillaiy, bearing solitary flowers of a dnll piu-ple on the surface of the water. 

 Sepals and petals very much alike, about 4 or 5 lines long wlien they 

 first open, bnt lengthening to 7 or 8 lines. Carpels shorter. — A. Gray, 



