72 FLOWERS OF LAKES, RIVERS, ETC. 



Aquatic like the Yellow Water Lily it has much the same habit. 

 It has too the same habit of opening and expanding its flowers, 

 expanding at 7 a.m. or in the middle of the day, and letting them rest 

 on the surface closed up about 4 p.m. or in the evening. The leaves are 

 smaller, longer, incumbent or overlapping at the base, and less heart- 

 shaped; 5-10 in. across; the stomata, contrary to the usual rule in 

 terrestrial types, are on the upper surface. 



The flower has a double appearance, having a lance-shaped outline, 

 the parts spirally arranged, the sepals, petals, and stamens passing into 

 each other. The ovary contains many ovules, and the stigma lies 

 above it. The embryo is small, the cotyledons remaining in the seed 

 when the latter germinates. The seeds are heart-shaped, smooth, 

 shiny, grey, and embedded in a slimy material after the capsule rots. 

 There is a glandular pore at the base of the petals, and the stalkless 

 rays of the stigma also extend beyond the margin. 



This plant lifts its flowers above the surface about 34 in. It 

 flowers from July to August. The White Water Lily is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



The carpels, which are embedded in a thick receptacle, are arranged 

 in a radiate manner. The anthers open as soon as the flower unfolds, 

 or the next day. As they stand above the pistil and bend over it the 

 pollen falls upon the stigma, and when no insects visit them the plant 

 is self-pollinated. The flowers are sweet-scented, and a honey-like 

 liquid is produced by the stigma. There is no nectary. Owing to the 

 aquatic habit, creeping insects cannot enter the flower. It is pollinated 

 by beetles of the genus Cetonia and by Glaphyridae. The stamens are 

 inserted on the ovary. 



The fruit of the White Water Lily is dispersed both by water and 

 by its own agency. After the expansion of the flower at the surface 

 it recoils to the bottom, allowing the seed to germinate in the mud, 

 and so is dispersed much like seeds of Vallisneria. The carpels 

 possess air-cells facilitating the floating of the seeds. The capsules 

 are edible. 



The plant is a Hydrophyte and aquatic, helping to form a certain 

 type of water association the floating-leaf association. 



The beetles that feed upon it are Donacia menyanthidis, the moths 

 Hydrocampa potamogeti and H. nymphaata, and the Homopteron 

 Rhophalosiphina nymphece. 



The name Castalia is that of a sacred fountain on Mount Parnassus, 

 and alba means white, in allusion to the flowers. 



The English names are Alau, Bobbins, Cambie-leaf, Candock, 



