WATER LILY FAMILY NYMPHAEACEAE 
SWEET-SCENTED WATER LILY 
Nymphaea odorata Ait. 
The Sweet-scented Water Lily has been called the 
queen of our waters and well merits the name, for 
few flowers are held in higher esteem. According to a 
legend of the Lanape 
Indians this flower orig- 
inated from a falling star, 
which upon striking the 
water changed into a 
Water Lily. It is closely 
related to the Lotus of 
the Old world, a flower 
which has always been 
DS cy | a symbol of the Buddhist 
ny; MY, ins religion. In many places 
ey ; Naren Le the great beauty of the 
ef Vise OO Sweet-scented Water 
| AS Lily has threatened to 
et an be the cause of its de- 
struction, for its flowers 
have been shamefully 
collected by hundreds and peddled on our city streets. 
This plant is found in ponds and slow streams from New- 
foundland to Manitoba and south to Louisiana and Florida, 
blooming from June to September. In Illinois its common situ- 
ation is the eastern and lake area of the state. 
The white flowers are 3-6 inches broad and wonderfully 
fragrant. They float upon the surface of the water in a field of 
waxy green leaves which have a tendency to assume reddish 
tints on the under surface. The 4 sepals are dark green outside 
and white or pinkish within. The many firm petals, pure white 
or tinged with pink, are inseveral rows, and the outer petals 
are larger. At the center are many pure yellow stamens, the 
inner slender and with long anthers, and the outer broader and 
almost petallike. The many pistils are united into 1 large com- 
pound ovary with the stigmas radiating from the top. After 
the flowers have faded, they are drawn beneath the surface of 
the water, where the fruits ripen. 
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