* 



CHAPTER Y. 



TAXONOMY. ' 

 Genus NYMPHAEA (Linn.) J. E. Smith. 



Generic diagnosis Sepals 4 (rarely 3 or 5), inferior. Petals many 

 (12 to 40), multiseriate, the lowest alternate with the sepals. Stamens 

 many (20 to 700), multiseriate, inserted above the petals on the upraised 

 torus which surrounds the carpels ; outer filaments broader, often petaloid ; 

 innermost slender or filiform ; anthers introrse, bilocular. Carpels many 

 (8 to 35), sunk in the cup-shaped, fleshy receptacle, fused dorsally with it, 

 and produced above it into shorter or longer processes, the carpellary styles 

 (except in Sec. Anecphya); margins of carpels fused centrally with the floral 

 axis, which extends above them as a short axile process. Stigma broad, 

 concave, radiate. Ovules very many, anatropous, pendulous from the sides 

 of the ovary cells. ' Fruit a spongy berry, ripening under water and burst- 

 ing irregularly. Seeds with a floating sac-like aril, open at the apex; 

 endosperm very small ; perisperm copious. Embryo small, straight. 



Aquatic herbs with perennial elongated or tuberous rhizome, rooting 

 in mud at the bottom of ponds, streams, etc. ; leaves floating, ovate to 

 orbicular, fissi-cordate, 5 to 60 cm. in diameter ; flowers solitary, showy, 

 floating or raised above the water on stiff scapes, 2.5 to 30 cm. in diameter, 

 white, blue, red, or yellow, in all shades. 



Founded by Smith on N. alba L. 



Nymphaca, Tournefort 1700, in part. Linnaeus 1753, in part. 



Nymphaea, J. E. Smith 1809. DeCandolle 1821 b, 1824. Planchon 1853 b. Lehmann 1853 a. Caspary 



1855, 1865, etc. Bentham & Hooker 1862. "Gray, etc. Not Salisbury 1806 a. 

 Castalia, Salisbury 18060. Greene 1887 a and b, 1888. Britten 1888 a. Lawson 1889. Britton & 



Brown 1897. 

 Leuconymphaca, Ludwig 1737. Kuntze 1891. MacMillan 1892. 

 Nymphea, Rafinesque 1830. 



1 This chapter, together with most of the bibliography at the end of Chapter VIII, was sub- 

 mitted to the University of Pennsylvania in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree 

 of Doctor of Philosophy, May 1, 1901. At that time I had placed the members of the Lotos 

 group in a single species, N. lotus. The separation of these into three distinct species, the fusion of 

 N. Hava and N. mexicana, the addition of some African species, and the substitution of " N. fiavo- 

 virens " for " N. gracilis " are the only material changes made since that time. A few citations and 

 measurements have been added in several species. 



125 



