108 



GEOEGB LAWSON 



Rees's Cyclopedia 



Vol. VI. Vol. XXV. 



(Woodville and Wood.) (J. E. Smith.) 

 1. Castalia alba = Nymphtea alba. 



A. r. DeCandolle having elaborated the Nymplucnceœ very carci'ully for his Eegni 

 Vegetabilis Systema Naturale (1821), vre have his results in the follov\nng list, in which 

 the species are arranged in order, and with numbers to correspond to those already 

 given : — 



DeCandolle, Systema Naturale, 1821. 



11. N. rvibra. 



12. N. nitida. 



13. N. versicolor. 



14. N. csBrulea (stellata, vur. Sims.) 



15. N. Madagascarensis, (species nova). 



16. N. pulchella ( " ). 

 It. N. reniformis. 



18. N. minor (odorata, var. Sims). 



19. N. blanda. 



DeCandolle's Systema having ceased with the second volume, the Prodromus (1824) took 

 its place. The same nomenclature of the "Water Lilies was retained in the latter work, 

 with addition of a somewhat doubtful Chinese species : — 



20. N. acutiloba. 



Not a few new species have been subsequently described by M. Plauchon and other 

 botanists, in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles, and other publications. A number of 

 these have been founded on dried specimens in herbaria, and it is probable that a read- 

 justment of them will be required when the living plants or better material become avail- 

 able for examination. Such was obviously the opinion of Bontham and Hooker when 

 w^orking on the Grenera Plautarum (1862), for they did }iot include these novelties in 

 their estimate of the number of species, which is given as twenty, the number described 

 by DeCandolle nearly forty years before. Now that the "Water Lilies are more generally 

 cultivated, it may be expected that their specific relations will be more carefully studied. 

 One disturbing- influence will be found in the increasing number of artificial, as well 

 as natural, varieties and hybrids, which, however, may prove of value as pointers of 

 relationship in the study of allied forms. The Synopsis, that follows, necessarily imper- 

 fect, has been prepared with the special view of assisting in the further study of our 

 Canadian and North American species, and South American and European forms allied 

 to them ; consequently the details given in regard to other species are very limited. 



