BKRBERIS.] BERBERIDEJE. 13 



solitary or fascicled, yellow, globose. Sepals 8-9, outer minute, imbricate. 

 Petals 6, in 2 series, 2-glandular at the base, imbricate. Stamens 6, free. 

 Ovules tew, basal, erect. Berry 1 2-seeded. Seed oblong, testa crus- 

 taceous, albumen fleshy ; embryo straight. DISTRIB. N. temp, regions, 

 sub-trop. Asia, temp. S. America ; species 50. ETYM. Arabic. 



1. B. vulga'ris, L. ; leaves obovate spiuous-serrate. 



Copses and hedges, not uncommon in England, naturalized in Scotland and 

 Ireland ; fl. May-June. An acid shrub, 4-6 ft. Leaves on the woody shoots 

 reduced to 3-7-forked (rarely simple) spines jointed on to a very short 

 sheath, and bearing fascicles of leaves (reduced branches) in their axils ; 

 leaves on the annual shoots 1-1 ^ in., alternate, shortly petioled. Flowers 

 |-^in. diam., in terminal pendulous racemes, pale yellow; bracts short, 

 triangular. Stigma broad, sessile, black. Berry \ in. long, oblong, com- 

 pressed, slightly curved, orange-red. DISTRIB. Euvope, temp. Asia, N. 

 Africa ; introd. in U. States. 



ORDER III. NYMPHJEA'CEJE. 



Aquatic perennial herbs. Leaves usually floating often peltate, involute in 

 vernation. Scapes 1 -flowered, naked. Floral whorls all free and hypo- 

 gynous, or adnate to a fleshy disk that envelops the carpels. Sepals 3-5. 

 Petals 3-5 or many. Stamens many. Carpels 3 or more in one whorl, free, 

 or adnate with the disk into a many-celled ovary ; styles as r many as 

 carpels, stigma peltate or decurreut ; ovules few or many, scattered over the 

 walls of the cells, anatropous or orthotropous. Fruit a berry, its carpels 

 consolidated, or separate and indehiscent. Seeds naked or arillate, albumen 

 floury or ; embryo enclosed in the enlarged amniotic sac. DISTRIB. 

 Temp, and trop. ; genera 8 ; species 30-40. AFFINITIES. With Papaver- 

 acece, but not close ; presents analogies with Hydrocharidece and Villarsia. 

 PROPERTIES unimportant. 



1. NU'PHAR, Smith. YELLOW WATER-LILY, BRANDY-BOTTLE. 



Flowers yellow, globose. Sepals 5-6, concave. Petals many, small, 

 hypogynous. Stamens many, inserted beneath the disk ; filaments short 

 flattened. Carpels many, together forming a many-celled ovary ; stig- 

 ma peltate, rayed ; ovules many. Berry ovoid, of separable carpels. 

 Seeds small. DISTRIB. N. temp, hemisphere; species 3-4. ETYM. Arabic 

 naufar. 



1. N. lu'teum, L. ; leaves rotundate, base deeply 2-lobed, lobes 

 usually contiguous, anthers linear, margin of stigma entire or waved 

 10-20-rayed. 



Still waters from the Caledonian Canal south; ascends to near 1,000 ft. in 

 Yorkshire ; fl. June- Aug. Rootstock creeping in mud ; bud terminal. Sub- 

 merged leaves membranous, waved ; floating coriaceous ; petioles obtusely 

 3-gonous at the top. Flower yellow, fragrant, odour alcoholic. Sepals 

 concave. Petals 18-20, obovate -cuneate, thickly coriaceous, with a sub- 

 terminal glandular pore. Berry ovoid, rostrate. DISTRIB. Europe (Arctic), 

 temp. Asia, N. America. Rootstock abounds in tannicacid. 



