WATER-LILY HOUSE 105 



stellata x N. micrantha *) originated in the Garden about 1851, 

 and for a long time held a place as the best of its class both 

 for beauty and length of time of flowering. In colour it is 

 pale blue, it has the scent of N. stellata, and produces bulbils 

 like micrantha. Cabomba viridifolia and Euryale ferox have 

 also been grown. 



Among the newer forms are : 



Nymphaea amazonum Nymphaea mexicana 



ampla O'Marana x 



blanda stellata (?) 



columbiana x sturtevantii 



deaniana x tuberosa, var. carnea 



flava * . M var. flavescens 



,, gigantea, var. hudsoni- zanzibarensis 



ana var. rosea 

 lotus, var. monstrosa 



Some of these bloom by day, some by night, when the Garden 

 is closed to the public. Several day-bloomers close petals 

 and sink below the surface during the night. Dark spots 

 indicate night-bloomers ; light spots indicate day-bloomers. 



Those virgin lilies, all the night 



Bathing their beauties in the lake, 

 That they may rise more fresh and bright 



When their beloved sun's awake. MOORE. 



Waterweeds of unusual size and form luxuriate in their 

 appropriate quarters near the margin of the tank. The largest, 

 Pistia stratiotes, grown here in former years, is common in 

 the ponds of the West Indies, where its leaves float loosely 

 on the surface of the water like green lettuces unattached to 

 the soil. It is a constituent of the " sadd " which is so great 

 an impediment to navigation on the Upper Nile. 



* Baxter's hybrid has apparently escaped the notice of Caspary and 

 Conrad (1905), but it is mentioned by Maxwell Masters, Gardeners' 

 Chronicle, May 24, 1856. A few bulbils flowered in 1911. 



