82 THE BTTTTERCUP FAMILY. 



stream, and give to their habitations quite a tropical air. About 

 fifty kinds are known, the acme of magnificence being attained in the 

 superb Victoria regia of Guiana, cultivated along with several smaller 

 species, in the conservatory at the Botanic Gardens. 



Three species grow wild in England, and two of them near Man- 

 chester. 



1. Flowers white. Sepals four, flat, green upon the outside, but\ ^y 



upon the inner surface white, like the petals, which they equal V^ 

 in size. Fruit resembling a small poppy-head ) 



2. Flowers yellow. Sepals five or six, concave, much larger than | Yellow 



the petals. Fruit shaped hke the Portland Vase | Watee-lily. 



HABITATS AND LOCALITIES. 



1. White Water-lily — {Nymphaa alba.) 



In ponds upon nearly every side of Manchester. Moston, Stretford, 

 Baguley, Eccles, Leigh, Cheadle, Rostherne Mere. Fl. July, August. 

 Curtis, iii. 500 ; E. B. iii. 160 ; Baxter, iii. 181. 



The ovary in the genus NympJima is nearly concealed by a peculiar fleshy disk, 

 rising out of the receptacle, and which bears the petals and stamens. Hence the 

 latter appear to grow upon its sui-face, though in reality truly hypogynous. 



2. Yellow Wateb-lily — (N-kphar li,tea.) 



Similarly diffused, especially upon the south-side of the town. 

 Lymm, Cheadle, Eccles, Mere Mere, Rostherne Mere, Leigh. Fl. 

 June — August. 



Curtis, iii. 501; E. 13. iii. 150 (as Nymphaa) ; Baxter, iv. 281. 



IL— THE BUTTERCUP FAMILY. lianunculdcetF. 



Herbaceous plants (except the Chinese pfconies and most kinds of 

 Clematis), with simple, exstipulatc, and usually much-divided leaves, 

 their juices thin, watery, and usually acrid. Sepals and petals 

 usually five each, and for the most part symmetrical, but with 

 many departures from uniformity, both in figure and proportion. The 

 petals are often absent, or very minute, and converted into honey- 

 cups, and the sepals brilliantly developed in their stead, as in the 



