(WATER-LILY FAMILY.) 55 



1. CAB OMB A, Auhlet. 



Sepals 3. Petals 3, oval, bi-auriculate above the very short claw. Stamens 

 3 - 6 ; anthers short, extrorse. Pistils 2-4, with small terminal stigmas. 

 Seeds 3, pendulous. Slender, mainly submersed, with opposite or verticillate 

 capillary-dissected leaves, a few floating, alternate and centrally peltate. 

 Flowers single on long axillary peduncles. (Probably an aboriginal name.) 



1. C. Caroliniana, Gray. Floating leaves linear-oblong or -obovate, 

 often with a basal notch ; flowers 6 - 8" broad, white with yellow spots at 

 base; stamens 6. Ponds, S. 111. (May - Sept., .<c!oic<-k) to Fla. and Tex. 



2. BKASENIA, Schreber. WATER-SHIELD. 



Sepals '! <>r 4. Petals 3 or 4, linear, sessile. Stamens 12 - IS ; filaments fili- 

 form ; anthers innate. Pistils 4-18, forming little dub-shaped indehiscent 

 pods; stigmas linear. Seeds 1 -2, pendulous on the dorsal suture! Koot- 

 stock creeping. Leaves alternate, loug-petioled, centrally peltate, oval, float- 

 ing. Flowers axillary, small, dull-purple. (Name of uncertain origin.) 



1. B. peltata, Pursh. Leaves entire, 1-4' across. Ponds and slow 

 streams. June -Aug. (Asia, Africa and Australia.) 



3. NELUMBO, Tourn. SA. IIED Hi; AX. 



The only genns of the suborder. (Xdnmbn is the Ceylonese name of the 

 Kast Indian species, the pink-dowered X. speciosa.) 



1. N. lutea, Pers. (YELLOW NLI.LMIIO, or WATER CIIINQFAPTN.) 

 Leaves usually raised high out of the wafer, circular, with the centre depressed 

 or cupped, 1 --2'' in diameter ; (lower pale yellow, 5- 10' broad , anthers tipped 

 with a slender hooked appendage. (Nelumbinm Intenm, \Villd.) S. Conn. 

 (probably of Indian introduction) to Lake Ontario, Mich., Minn., K. Neli., and 

 southward ; rare in the Middle States. Tubers farinaceous and edible. Seeds 

 also eatable. Embryo like that of Nymphtra on a large scale ; cotyledons thick 

 and fleshy, enclosing a plumule of 1 or 2 well-formed young leaves, enclosed 

 in a delicate stipule-like sheath. 



4. NYMPH-aSA, Tourn. WATER-NYMPH. WATER-LILY. 



Sepals 4, green outside, nearly free. Petals numerous, in many rows, the 

 innermost gradually passing into stamens, imbricately inserted all over the 

 ovary. Stamens indefinite, inserted on the ovary, the outer with dilated fila- 

 ments. Ovary 12-o.Vcelled, the concave summit tipped with a globular pro- 

 jection at the centre, around which are the radiate stigmas ; these project at the 

 margin, and are extended into linear and incurved sterile appendages. Fruit 

 depressed-globular, covered with the bases of the decayed petals, maturing 

 underwater. Seeds enveloped bv a sac-like aril. Flowers white, pink, yel- 

 low, or blue, very showy. (Dedicated by the Greeks to the Water-Nymphs.) 



1- N. odorata, Ait. (SWEET-SCENTED WATER-LILT.) 7>W.s/< with 

 far (ui// />i rxixtmt Innn'hi .< ,- loaves orbicular, cordate-cleft at the ba.se to the 

 petiole (5-9' wide), the margin entire; stipules broadly triangular or almost 

 kidney-shaped, notched at the apex, appressed to the rootstock ; flower white, 

 rerti sweet, scented (often as much as 5J' in diameter when fully expanded, 

 opening early in the morning, closing in the afternoon) ; petals obtuse ; anthers 



