NEMOPHILA. 



210 



NERINE. 



Navelwort. — See Cotyle'don. 



Neck of a plaut. — The collar, 

 collet, neck, or vital knot, is the 

 point of junction from which spring 

 the ascending stem and branches, 

 and the descending roots. This 

 point has been called the heart of 

 the plant, because any injury done 

 to it causes instant death. ^ j 



Nelu'mbitjm. — NymphcEacecB. — 

 The Indian Lotus, or Sacred Bean 

 of India. A stove aquatic, generally 

 with white or pale-pink flowers ; 

 rather difficult to flower in this 

 country, as it requires great heat 

 and abundance of room ; the seeds, 

 also, which are sent over from India, 

 rarely vegetate. The seeds should 

 be sown in rich loamy soil in the 

 bottom of a large tub, which should 

 be kept fall of water while the 

 plants are growing, but which may 

 be allowed to become dry when the 

 flowers have faded. The plants are 

 increased by dividing the root, or by 

 seeds. There are two West Indian 

 Nelumbiums ; one of which has 

 pale-blue, and the other pale-yellow 

 flowers. It must be observed, that 

 the Nelumbium, or Indian Water- 

 Lily, diff"ers essentially from the 

 Egyptian Water Lily, which flowers 

 freely in a stove aquarium. — See 

 Nymph^'a. 



ISTemopa'nthes. — Celastrnece, or 

 AquifoUdcece. — The new name for 

 Plex canadensis. 



Nemo'phila. — Hydrojjhylldcece. 

 -^—Beautiful little annual plants, na- 

 tives of California, that require the 

 usual treatment of similar plants. — 

 See Californian Annuals and An- 

 nuals. The most beautiful species is 

 probably the common blue kind, N. 

 insignis ; but there are three others, 

 viz. N. aioni«rz'a, the flowers of which 

 are white with black spots ; N.jiha- 

 celioides, the flowers of which are 

 almost black; and N. maculata, 

 introduced in 1848, the flowers of 



which are white, with a dark purple 

 spot on each petal. 



Nepe'nthes. — Cytlnece. — The 

 Chinese Pitcher Plant. There are 

 two species in common cultivation ; 

 one a native of China, and the other 

 of Ceylon ; both of them being 

 marsh plants, and requiring the 

 pot in which they grow to stand 

 in a saucer full of water. iV. distil- 

 latoria grows above eight feet high, 

 and it shows a tendency to curl its 

 tendrils round other plants, or any 

 object within its reach, so as to 

 support its pitchers, which are at 

 the extremity of its tendrils. Both 

 species should be grown in a peaty 

 soil, and they both require the heat 

 of a stove. Neither the flowers nor 

 the fruit have the slightest beauty 

 to recommend them. Some new 

 Pitcher-plants, which are said to 

 be distinct species, have been 

 recently introduced. 



Ne'peta. — Labiatce. — Catmint. 

 — Hardy herbaceous plants of no 

 beauty, which grow freely in any 

 common soil. 



Neri^ne, — Aonaryllidacece. — 

 Showy bulbous-rooted plants, the 

 type of which is the Gruernsey Lily, 

 and which are natives of the Cape 

 of Good Hope, China, and Japan. 

 The Guernsey Lily is a native of 

 Japan, and the reason why it has 

 obtained its English name is said 

 to be, that a ship laden with these 

 bulbs and other plants from China, 

 was wrecked on the coast of Guern- 

 sey ; and that the bulbs being 

 washed on shore, took root in the 

 sandy soil of the beach, and flour- 

 ished there so remarkably as to be 

 supposed to be natives of the island. 

 Whether this s' ory be true or not, 

 it is quite certain that for nearly 

 two hundred years these bulbs have 

 been cultivated in Guernsey with 

 the greatest success, growing freely 

 in the open air, and producing abun- 



