NAT. ORDER. 



Nymphiacccc. 



NELUMBIUM SPECIOSUM. CHINESE WATER LILY. 



Class PoLYANDRiA. Order Polygynia. 



Gen. Char. Coli/.v, four, five, and six leaved, larg-c and colored. 



Corolla, numerous petals, often fifteen. Sknnctis, often seventy. 



Pisiillum, ovate. 

 Sjje. Char. Style, none. Stigma,, orbiculate, flat, peltate, sessile, 



rag-ged, crenate, permanent. Pericarpium, a hard berry, fleshy, 



rude, narrowed at the neck. Cells, from ten to fifteen. 



Trunk of the i^ooi horizontal, fleshy, white, sending- out many 

 fibres from the under surface ; j)Clioles long, rising beyond the surface 

 of the water, scabrous with acute tubercles ; leaves large, one or two 

 feet in diameter, exactly peltate in the centre, orbicular entire, gla- 

 brous, under surface palest, margins somewhat waved ; j)<^duncles, 

 longer than the petioles, erect, and scabrous ; Jioicers large, emulating 

 Paonia and Papavcr, white and red ; fiiiit resembling an instmment 

 once used in play by the French, by the very antique name Lotos, 

 (D. C.) It was known in early history, and was said to be a native 

 of India, but is found in great abundance in all parts of China. 



This plant was well known to the Greeks, and is said by Herodo- 

 tus, Theophrastus, and others, to be a native of Egypt, but no modern 

 traveler has observed it growing in that country. There can, how- 

 ever, be no doubt of its having actually existed there, either naturally 

 or cultivated, since the terms in which it is described by those au- 

 thors are too clear and decisive to be mistaken, and dieir accounts are 

 confirmed by ancient Egj^Dtian sculptures and mosaics, which are still 

 preserved, and testify that from the earliest times, it as well as the 

 Vol. IV. — 48. 



