766 NYMPH^A. [CLASS XIII. ORDER I. 



of dead game, flowers, &c. in Chatsworth House, and elsewhere, are 

 carved in this wood ; burnt into charcoal it is esteemed as one of the 

 best for making gunpowder, and for painter's scribblets. The bark, 

 steeped in water for some time, readily separates into those thin layers, 

 which are known in this country by the name of bass, and are used for 

 making mats, baskets, cordage for tying up plants, &c. by gardeners. 

 The nuts of some of the species, when roasted, are said to have some- 

 thing the flavour of chocolate. The sap abounds in saccharine matter, 

 and produces a pleasant wine by fermentation. The flowers are ex- 

 tremely odoriferous, and the favourite resort of bees ; when distilled 

 with water they impregnate it with the odour, but their volatile oil 

 cannot be procured, according to Pfaff, in a separate state. 



GENUS VIII. NYMPH'tEA.— Linn. fV kite Water Lily, 

 Nat. Ord, NyMPHiEA'cEiE. De Cand. 

 Gen. Char. Calyx of four or five pieces. Petals numerous, and as 

 well as the stamens inserted upon the germen. Berry many 

 celled, many seeded. — Name from Nyfx(pata, of the Greeks, from 

 its inhabiting the water, as the Nymphs or Naiads were wont 

 to do. 



1. N. al'ba, Linn. (Fig. 874.) White Water Lily. Leaves sub- 

 rotundate, deeply cordate, entire, the lobes obliquely ovate, nearly 

 parallel ; stigma of sixteen ascending rays. 



English Botany, t. 160. — English Flora, vol. iii. p. 13. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 215. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 15. 



Root tuberous, with numerous fibrous branches. Leaves several, on 

 cylindrical footstalks, large, from six to twelve inches across, roundish 

 ovate, cut, nearly parallel, about one-third the depth of the leaf into a 

 heart-shaped form, entire, smooth, of a leathery substance, of a bright 

 green above, paler beneath, with radiating veins and a stout mid-ribs. 

 Flower solitary, on a cylindrical stalk, varying in length according to 

 the depth of the water, quite smooth. Calyx oblong lanceolate, green 

 externally, white or pinkish within, quite smooth. Petals numerous, 

 pure white, oblong, inserted in several rows upon the germen. Sta- 

 mens numerous, in several rows around the germen, with ^ai filaments ^ 

 gradually dilated to the outer rows into petaloid ones. Anthers of two 

 linear cells. Germen superior, sessile, globose. Stigmas sessile, of 

 about sixteen rays, cleft from above the middle, the point entire, and 

 curved inwards. Nectary in the centre of the stigma. Fruit a rather 

 large globose berry, of as many cells as there are rays to the stigma, 

 many seeded, coriaceous, at length becoming pulpy and gelatinous 

 internally. 



Habitat. — Lakes and still waters; frequent. 



Perennial; flowering in June and July. 



