164 POLYANDRIA. 



is liowever a variety with yellow flowers. This plant is 

 cultivated in Europe as a curiosity. The stem, which is a 

 scape, rises to the height of a foot or more, and bears a 

 single terminal flower, which is large, nodding, and of a 

 deep reddish purple. The petals are five, and of an oval 

 shape. The germ is globular, and covered by the stigma, 

 this being divided into five lobes, the segments of which ex- 

 pand like an umbrella, and falling down, alternate with the 

 petals. There is an exterior calyx, composed of three leaves, 

 and an interior one composed of five ; these are nearly purple. 

 The leaves are all radical, and are composed of a large hol- 

 low tube, swelling in the middle, contracted downwards, and 

 ending in a short petiole. The mouth of the tube, or leaf, is 

 contracted, and furnished with a spreading, heart-shaped ap- 

 pendage. The leaves lie on the ground with their mouths 

 turned upwards, so as to catch the rain as it falls. They 

 hold nearly a wine-glass full of water, and are seldom found 

 empty. The whole genus are aquatic, and are found in wet 

 boggy places. These plants thrive very well in pots filled 

 with turfy peat, or swamp soil, the upper part containing 

 some water moss, and the pot being placed in a pan of water. 

 They flower in June and July, and may be found in many 

 swarnps in New England. 



GENUS Nymph&a. Water Lily. Name from Nymph, a 

 Naiad of streams. This is a beautiful genus of aquatic 

 perennial flowers. The white Water Lily, which is common 

 in brooks and ponds, has a large white flower, with a yellow 

 centre, and four sepals, which are green without and white 

 within. Few flowers possess a more exquisite fragrance 

 than this. The leaves are orbicular, cordate, and emargin- 

 ate, with the lobes toothed. This species, the Nyrnphaea 

 odorata, or fragrant Water Lily, often grows where the water 

 is ten or twelve feet deep. The flowers expand in the morn- 

 ing arid close in the afternoon. The roots are of the size of 

 a man's arm, and have been used as emollients in medicine. 

 The yellow Pond Lily belongs to the genus Nuphar, of which 

 we have two species, one with a calyx of five leaves, and the 

 other with a calyx of six. It is said that crickets and cock- 

 roaches are destroyed by these roots, bruised and mixed with 

 milk. 



What are the botanical names of the white and yellow pond lilies ? 



