Nelumbium.'] NytnphcBacecB. 5 1 



upwards at the ends without appendages ; fruit globular ; 

 seeds longitudinally striate. 



Shallow streams, tanks, and ponds throughout the low country, especi- 

 ally in the dry districts. Fl. all the year ; pale blue or violet, open all 

 the day. 



Throughout the warmer parts of India, and in tropical and Northern 

 Africa. 



This also varies greatly in the size and colour of the flowers. Usually 

 their colour is a very pale whitish-violet, and less commonly a bright 

 light blue ; occasionally it is pinkish-purple. 



The small starchy ovoid rhizomes are eaten when masted. 



Aquatic herbs ; 1. and fl. raised much above the water ; 

 sep. 4-5, caducous; pet. 15-18 or more, soon falling; stam. 

 very numerous, with an appendage beyond the anth. ; carp. 

 10-20, separately sunk in the top of a large, obconic recep- 

 tacle, ovules 1-2, pendulous; ripe carp, distant, i -seeded ; 

 seed filling the carp., cotyledons thick, fleshy, no endosperm. 

 — Sp. 2 ; I in Fl. B. hid. 



N. speciosum, Willd. Sp. PL ii. 1258 (1799). Nelun, S. 

 Tamarai, T. 



Herm. Parad. Bat. 205; Mus. 66. Burm. Thes. 173. Fl. Zeyl. n. 

 193. NymphcEa Nelianbo, "L. Sp. PI. 511. Moon Cat. 43. Thw. Enum. 

 14. C. P. 1022. 



Fl. B. Ind. i. 116. Wight, 111. i. t. 9. Herm. Parad. Bat. t. 205. 



A large water-herb, with a slender, elongated, branched, 

 creeping stem, with tufts of roots at the nodes ; 1. very large, 

 erect, petioles very long, rough, with distant prickles, blade 

 peltate, 1-2 ft. diam., horizontal, concave or cupped, rotundate 

 in outline, entire, radiately-veined, glabrous, glaucous ; fl. 

 solitary, very large, 4-10 in., on very long, erect, asperous 

 ped., coming off" from the nodes of the stem and sheathed at 

 the base ; sep. small ; pet. 3-5 in., oval, obtuse, finely veined, 

 very concave, at first erect, afterwards spreading ; anth.- 

 appendage spathulate ; receptacle | in. high, spongy, top flat, 

 I in. wide ; carp, small, seed-like, styles short, exserted, 

 stigma capitate ; ripe carp. ^ in., loose in the cavities of the 

 greatly enlarged receptacle, which is now 2-4 in. wide, ovoid, 

 glabrous. 



Still water, especially tanks, in the dry country ; common ; possibly 

 not a native in the moist region. Fl. Feb. -Aug.; white or rose-coloured, 

 sweet-scented. 



* Hermann (Par. Bat. 205) gives Nelumbo as the Sinhalese name. 



