18 XELUMBIACE^E. 



fool high. Leaf hinnate, petioled. Flower terminal, solitary, large, white, re 

 sembling that of Sanguinaria. Capsule large, coriaceous. Seeds shining, ob- 

 long. Twiri'leqf. Rheumatism-root. 



ORDER VI. CACOMBACE^E. WATER-SHIELDS. 



Sepals 3 or 4, colored inside, persistent. Petals 3 or 4, al- 

 ternate with the sepals. Stamens definite or indefinite; an- 

 thers linear, turned inwards, continuous with the filament. 

 Ovaries 2 or more. Fruit indehiscent, tipped by the indurated 

 style. Seeds few, pendulous ; embryo seated at the base of a 

 fleshy albumen. Aquatics, with floating leaves. Flowers ax- 

 illary, solitary, yellow or purple. 



HYDROPELTIS. Mick. Water-shield. 



Calyx of 3 4 sepals. Petals 3 4. Stamens, 18 36. 

 Ovaries 6 18. Carpels oblong, acuminate, 1 2-seeded. 



H. purpurea Mich. Brasenia peltata Pursh. 



Lakes and ponds. Can. to Geor. June, July. 1}.. Whole plant covered with 

 a viscid gelatine. Stem floating, long, terete, branched. Leaves oval, peltate, 

 coriaceous, very entire and tinged with purple on the lower side. Peduncles 

 solitary, long, each springing from the side of a petiole. Flowers purple, about 

 an inch in diameter. Water-shield. Water-target. 



ORDER VIL NELUMBIACE^E. WATER BEANS. 



Sepals 4 or 5. Petals numerous, oblong, in many rows. 

 Stamens numerous, arising from within the petals in several 

 rows ; filaments petaloid ; anthers adnate. Torus a fleshy ele- 

 vated disk, very large, enclosing the numerous separate ovaries 

 in hollows of its substance. Nuts numerous, half buried in 

 hollows of the disk in which they are finally loose. Seeds soli- 

 tary, rarely 2. Herbs with peltate fleshy floating leaves, arising 

 from a prostrate trunk, growing in quiet waters. 



NELUMBIUM. Juss. Sacred Bean. 

 (From the Ceylon name, Nelumbo.} 



Calyx petaloid, of 4 6 sepals. Petals numerous. Carpels 

 numerous, deeply immersed in the upper surface of a turbinate 

 receptacle or torus, 1 -seeded. Seed large, round, solitary. 



N. luteum Willd. : anthers produced into a linear appendage at the ex- 

 tremity ; leaves peltate, orbicular, very entire. Cyamiis fiavicomus Salisb. 

 Pursk. C. luteus Nutt. 



Lakes. N. Y. to Car. W. to Miss. July. 7J.. Leaves a foot or more in 

 fliameter, alternate, peltate- Peduncles very long, more or less scabrous. 

 Powers yellowish-white, and larger than that produced by any plant in North 

 America, except Magnolia macrophyUa. Water Chinquapin. 



