I.] 



119 



one carpel, as in truly apocarpous pistils : the arrange- 

 ment of the ovules, which are spread over the sides of 

 the ovaries ; the double albumen of the seeds. 



To the genus Nelumbium, with the carpels separately 

 immersed in a large, obconical receptacle, belongs the 

 Lotus (Fig. 76), regarded by the ancient Egyptians as 



FIG. 77. Section of flower of Sacred Lotus, showing the carpels separately 

 immersed in the top-shaped receptacle. Reduced. 



well as by the Chinese and Hindoos of the present day 

 as sacred. The flowers are represented in sculptures 

 and paintings in the Egyptian catacombs. 



Victoria regia, a South American Water-lily, intro- 

 duced into England in 1849, bears floating leaves, which 

 have been measured 12 feet across, and flowers about 

 i foot in diameter when expanded. 



* * Pistil syncarpous. 

 4. Natural Order Papaveracea?. The Poppy Family. 



DISTRIBUTION. Excepting a few stragglers, con- 

 fined to the North temperate zone. British genera 5, 

 species 9. 



