Nympkaa.] flora indica. 243 



at night, and closed at 10 a.m., his own, from Hungary, did not. Pliny (as quoted 

 by Salisbury) says that the flowers retire under water at night. 



3. N. stellata (Willd. Sp. PI. ii. 1153); foliis orbiculatis v. ellip- 

 tico-orbiculatis obtuse sinuato-dentatis integerrimisve, sepalis nervosis 

 (sed non costatis), petalis lineari-oblongis lanceolatisve acutis v. apice 

 angustatis, antheris longe appendiculatis, stigmatis radiis in cornua 

 brevia productis inappendiculatis, seminibus substriatis. 



a. cyanea ; floribus mediocribus cyaneis non aut vix odoris. — N. 

 cyanea, Roxb. El. Ltd. iii. 577 ; Wight et Am. Prod. i. 17 ; Wall. Cat. 

 7253 A! et D! N. stellata, ft Bot. Mag. t. 2058 j Planchon, Etudes, 

 I.e. 40. 



ft parviflora ; floribus pleruraque minoribus cseruleis. — N. stellata, 

 Willd. Sp. PI. ii. 1153 ; Andr. Bot. Rep. t. 330 ; DC. Syst. ii. 51 ; Prodr. 

 i. 115 ; Wight et Am. Prod. 1 17 ; Wall. Cat. 7253 67 et El N. stel- 

 lata, £ ? major, Planchon, Etudes, I. c. 



y. versicolor; floribus majoribus albis caerulcis earneis pallide pur- 

 pureisve, staminibus perplurimis. — N. versicolor, Roxb. Hort. Beng. 41 ; 

 FL Ind. ii. 577 ; Sims, Bot. Mag. t. 1189 ; Planchon, Etudes, I.e. 39 ; 

 Wall. Cat. 7257 !; N. punctata, Edgew. in Linn. Soc. Trans, xx. 29. N. 

 Hookeriana, Lehmann, Ueberdie Gattung NympJicea, 21; N. Edgeworthii, 



Lehm. I.e. 7. 



Hab. Per totam Indiam calidain vulgatissima. — (FL per totum 



annum.) (v. v.) 



Distrib. Yar. a. Africa borealis \ tropica! et australis ? ; ins. Philip.! 



Folia submersa (dum adsunt) menibranacea, natantia coriacea, omnia integerriina 

 v. sinuato-dentata, plerunique per totam superficiem grosse v. minute impresso- 

 puoctata, subtus obscure maculatn, rarius onmino lsevia v. disco punctate-; lobis 

 acutis v. obtusis divaricatis parallelis v. incumbentibus. Flores 1-10 unc. dianietro, 

 c-ccrulei, albidi, rosei, v. purpurei, in stirpibus iEgyptiacis odori, in Indicis vix odori. 

 Sepala lineari-ovata v. oblonga, petalis cequilonga v. longiora, viridia, lineolis pur- 

 purea srepius notata, multinervia sed non costata. Tetala 10-30, versus apices 

 plerumque sensim aeutata, interiora exemplaribus grandifloris srepe in stamina trans- 

 euntia. Stamina 10-50, 2-4-seriata, in stirpibus minoribus pauciora, longe acute 

 v. obtuse appendiculata, appendice albida v. can-idea. Pollen heve. Stigmatis radii 

 10-30, apicibus obtusis v. in cornua longitudine varia erecta incurva producti, inap- 



pendiculati. 



The N. stellata, var. ft of the 'Botanical Magazine,' is referred by De Candolle 

 (Systema) to N. carulea; and this is the only allusion we find to an opinion we have 

 long entertained, that the Blue Water-lily of the Nile and India are (like their white 

 congener Lotus) specifically the same. The most prominent difference we find be- 

 tween them is the sweet scent of the African plant, whether wild or cultivated, and 

 its usually more numerous petals and stamina, and, according to De Candolle the 

 smallness of the parts of N. stellata, the leaves not being purple below, its lubes 

 being divaricated, and the petals and stigmata being only eight to twelve ^ c have 

 had abundant proof in India, that, except the odour, not one of these characters 13 

 of the smallest value. Whether the South African N. scuttfoha (which has many 

 petals) and one of the two Madagascar species (also found to the Mauritius) be the 

 same, we do not venture to say, never having compared living specimens ; but we 

 find them both marked N. carulea by Planchon (in Herb. Hook.), and except in the 

 greater number of petals and stamens they do not appear to differ from that plant, 

 to which N. scutifolia was referred by Dryander, Andrews, and Sims. 



With regard to the three varieties we have included under the Indian N. stellata, 



