22 NYMPILEACE^E. (WATER-LILY FAMILY.) 



Leaves l-2 broad. Flower 5' -8' in diameter. Tubers farinaceous. 

 Seeds also eatable. Embryo like that of Nympha;a on a large .scale. Cotyle- 

 dons tbick and fleshy, enclosing a plumule of 1 or 2 well-formed young leaves, 

 enelosed in a delicate stijmle-like sheath. 



ORDER 7. CABOMBACE^E. (WATER-SHIELD FAMILY.) 



Aquatics, like Water-Lilies ; but the hypogynous sepals, petals, stamens (in 

 threes, persistent), and pistils much fewer (definite) in number, all distinct 

 a, id separate. Seeds very few. Really no more than a simple state ol 

 Nymphaeaceae : embraces Cabomba, of the Southern States, and the follow- 

 ing genus. 



1. BRASENIA, Schreber. WATER-SHIELD. 



Sepals 3 or 4. Petals 3-4, linear, sessile. Stamens 12-18 : filaments fili- 

 form: anthers innate. Pistils 4-18, forming little club-shaped indchiseent 

 pods. Seeds 12, pendulous on the dorsal suture! Embryo enclosed in a 

 peculiar bag, at the end of the albumen next the hilum. Rootstock creeping. 

 Leaves alternate, long-petioled, centrally peltate, oval, floating on the water. 

 Flowers axillary, small, dull-purple. (Name of uncertain origin.) 



1. B. pelt fata, Pursh. (Hydropcltis purpurea, Michx.) Ponds and 

 slow streams June -Aug. Stalks coated with clear jelly. Leaves entire, 

 2 A -3' aoross. (Also a native of Puget Sound, Japan, Australia, and Eastern 

 India 1) 



ORDER 8. NYMPHAEACEAE. (WATER-LILY FAMILY.) 



Aquatic herbs, with round or peltate floating leaves, and solitary showy 

 flowers from a prostrate rootstock ; the partly colored sepals and numerous 

 petals and stamens imbricated in several rows ; the numerous pistils combined 

 into a many-celled compound ovary. Embryo small, enclosed in a little bag 

 at the end of the albumen, next the hilum, with a distinct plumule, en- 

 closed by the 2 fleshy cotyledons. Sepals and petals persistent, h; 

 nous or perigynous ; the latter passing into stamens: anthers adnate, 

 opening inwards. Fruit a pod-like berry, ripening under water, crowned 

 with the radiate stigmas, 14-30-celled ; the many anatropous seeds at- 

 tached to the sides and back of the cells. Rootstocks imitating the endo- 

 genous structure (astringent, with some milky juice, often farinaceous). 



1. NYMPH Jte A, Tourn. WATER-NYMPH. WATEK-LILY. 



Sepals 4, green outside. Petals numerous, in many rows, the inner narrower 

 and gradually passing into stamens, imbricately inserted all over the surface of 

 the ovary. Stamens inserted on the top of the receptacle, the outer with petal- 

 like filaments. Fruit depressed-globular, covered with the bases of the deca\vd 

 petals. Seeds enveloped by a sac-like aril. Flowers white rose-color, or blue, 

 very showy. (Dedicated by the Greeks to the Water-Nymphs.) 



