26 VI. NTMPHJEACEa:. 



with purple beneatli ; petioles long, slender, submerged. Flowers soli- 

 tary, 3-6 in. in diam., usually pale violet, less commonly light blue or 

 purple, sometimes faintly fragrant, open all the day ; peduncles long. 

 Sepals many-veined, not ribbed, oblong-lanceolate, acute or subobtuse, 

 streaked with purple lines. Petals linear-oblong or lanceolate. Fila- 

 ments 10-50, dilated at tlie base ; anthers with a lingual appendage ; 

 pollen smooth. Stigmatic rays 10-30, without appendages. Fruit 

 globular. Seeds longitudinally striate. Fl. B. I. v. 1, p. 114 ; Grab. 

 Cat. p. 5 ; Dalz. & Gibs. p. G ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v, 1, p. 50 ; AVoodr. in 

 Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 11 (1897) p. 121 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 5, 

 p. 438. — Flowers all the year. Verx. UpUa-Kamal. 



Common throughout the warmer parts of India ; cultivated in the Bombay Presi- 

 dency, but not so extensively as the preceding species. The roots and seeds are eaten 

 in times of scarcity. — Distrhj. Africa. 



2. NELUMBIUM, Juss. 



Aquatic herbs ; juice milky ; rhizome horizontal. Leaves peltate, much 

 raised out of the water. Scapes l-flo\vered. Flowers handsome, rosy, 

 white or yellow. Sepals 4-5, inserted on the top of the scape, caducous. 

 Petals and stamens numerous, hypogynous, many-seriate, caducous. 

 Anthers appendaged. Ovaries many, 1-celled, sunk in the flat top of an 

 obcouic fleshy torus ; ovules 1-2, pendulous ; style very short, exserted; 

 stigmas terminal, subdilated. Carpels ovoid, loose in the cavities of the 

 large spongv torus ; pericarp bony, smooth. Seed filling the carpel ; 

 testa spongy ; albumen ; cotyledons thick, fleshy, enclosing the large 

 folded plumule. — Disxrib. Species 2, one West Indian, the other Asiatic 

 and Australian. 



1. IMelumbium speciosum, Wilhl. Sp. PJ. v. 2, p. 1258. A large 

 aquatic herb with slender, elongate, branched, creeping stems sending 

 out rojts at the nodes. Leaves membranous, 1-2 ft. or more in diam., 

 orbicular, concave or cupped, erect, exactly peltate, entire, radiately 

 nerved, glaucous, glabrous ; petioles very long, rough with small distant 

 prickles, otherwise smooth. Flowers solitary, 4-10 in. in diam., white 

 or rosy ; peduncles coming off from the nodes of the stem, sheathing at 

 the base. Sepals small. Petals 2-5 in. long, elliptic, obtuse, tiuely 

 veined, concave, at first erect, afterwards spreading. Anthers witli a 

 clavate appendage. Torus | in. high, spongy ; the top flat, 1 in. broad, 

 becoming enlarged in fruit to a breadth of 2-4 in. Ripe carpels h in. 

 long, ovoid, glabrous. Fl. B. [. v. 1, p. IIG ; Grab. Cat. p. 5; Dalz. & 

 Gibs. p. 7 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 1, p. 51 ; AVoodr. in Journ. Bomb. Xat. 

 V. 11 (18G7) p. 121 ; AVtitt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 5, p. 343.— Flowers : 

 July. Vj:rn. Kamal ; Kaaladi. — Distriu. Persia, Malaya, China, 

 Japan, tropical Australia. 



In tanks throngliout tiie warmer p:irls ofliidia.a duubifiil native; cultivated in the 

 Bombay Presidency. Tlic tender roots and rliizomes are caton in times of scarcity 

 and with the seeds and petals arc used medicinally by the natives. 



Order VII. PAPAVERACE^. 



Annual or perennial herbs ; juice milky or colored. Leaves radical or 

 alternate, exstii)ulate. Flowers often large, noddiug in bud, regular, 

 hermaphrodite ; perianth and stamens very caducous. Sepals 2-3, 



