I ULTUKE OF NELUMB1UMS. 93 



CULTURE OF NELUMBIUMS. 



BY K.EWENSIS. 



Having some time back suggested to your readers the experiment of 

 growing tender aquatics in warm-water tanks, and observing that a cor- 

 respondent has been distributing seeds of Nelumbium luteum, I think 

 a hint on the mode of raising that and the East Indian N. speciosum 

 may not be amiss, as, without such instruction, probably not one per- 

 son in fifty of those who have received seeds will rear the plant. For 

 some reason or other, probably to preserve a seed which, by sinking in 

 deep water, or being buried in mud, is exposed to many casualties, the 

 seeds of Nelumbium are furnished with an exceedingly hard coat, which 

 as long as it remains uninjured resists all soaking, whether in cold or 

 warm water. In order to induce them to vegetate in any reasonable 

 time, it is necessary to file the blunt end of the seed, until it just yields 

 to the pressure of the nail. Thus prepared, the seed should be thrown 

 into a pan of water, the temperature of which is not above 70°. When 

 first sown it sinks, but in the course of forty-eight hours it will begin 

 to push, and as soon as the seed-leaves have protruded a few inches, the 

 young plant rises to the surface, where its leaves expand, and it floats. 

 In a short time it throws down a runner, much like that of a straw- 

 berry, which descends to seek the mud. This runner throws out roots, 

 and sends up a leaf, and from its extremity a similar runner again 

 descends, and again another, eacli rooting and throwing up its leaf, 

 until at length the plant reaches the mud, when it takes root, and 

 begins to produce strong leaves. The best method is to sow the seed 

 in a pan a foot or eighteen inches deep, having four or five inches of 

 stiff mud at the bottom. It is useless, and probably would be injurious, 

 to cover the seed with earth ; those which I tried to plant in this 

 manner invariably came up and floated, and, if effectually buried, the 

 seed would most likely decay. Nelumbium luteum seems to delight 

 nearly in the same treatment as its East Indian relations, and the rich 

 deep velvet green of its leaves form a beautiful contrast to the bluish- 

 white of that species. I have not seen its flower, but understand that 

 it resembles N. speciosum in everything but colour. 



Whilst on the subject of aquatics, it may be well to mention that 

 Nymphaea lotus grows very freely from seeds, if they are allowed to 

 seed themselves in the water when ripe, and this is the best way of pre- 

 serving the species ; they come up in the following spring, and flower 

 in the summer. The old roots are very apt to perish. Nelumbium 

 luteum and Nymphsea ccerulea will probably prove the hardiest of all 

 the tender water plants ; but collectors must distinguish between the 

 true N. ccerulea, a very strong and luxuriant growing sweet-scented 

 species, and N. stellata, a small, elegant plant, much more tender. I 

 fear, however, that this caution is almost needless, and that N. stellata 

 has disappeared from our collections. The remark may, nevertheless, 

 induce some one who is fortunate enough to possess it to cherish the 

 delicate stranger, and give it the attention which its tropical nature 

 requires. It is a native of Malabar. N. ccerulea is from the Cape of 

 Good Hope. 



