Taxonomy Nymphaea heudelotii. 147 



Description. Sepals 5, narrow, lanceolate, acuminate, with violet dots. Petals 

 10, 1.3 to 5 cm. long, a little shorter than the sepals, lanceolate, narrow, blue to white. 

 Stamens numerous; filaments whitish, narrow at base; anthers of various lengths, 

 twice as long as the filaments; appendage short, conic-terete. Ovary round. Seeds 

 very numerous, very small, blackish. Leaves 7.6 cm. long, 5.1 cm. wide (in the type). 

 Rhizomes clustered, with soft tawny wool around the bases of the petioles ; roots very 

 long. 



Geographic Distribution. West Coast of Africa. In swamps of the penin- 

 sula of Cape Verde, near n'Batal ; in the Galam region ; in the kingdom of Cayor, etc. 

 Flowers almost all the year. 



Types. Coll. Perrottet, 1830, in hbb. Delessert, Kew, DeCandolle. Also coll. E. 

 Holub, Eastern Bamangwato territory, Bechuanaland. 



Notes. The most striking difference between this and N. caerulea Sav. lies in 

 the viviparous habit. Chifnot (1902) states, and Planchon's description indicates, that 

 this character does not appear until the second year of the plant's growth. The first 

 year it has nearly white flowers, and corresponds to N. guineensis Sch. & Th. ; the 

 second year bulbils appear, but the flowers are small and pale, and the plant corre- 

 sponds to N. micrantha Guill. & Perr. Only in the third year, according to ChifBot, 

 does the plant acquire its definite morphological characters. 



We do not find either in the specimens or descriptions of Guillemin & Perrottet 

 any important differences between the several viviparous forms they enumerate. N. 

 rufescens is a larger plant; sepal 7.6 cm. long, petals 18 to 20, stamens very numerous 

 with petaloid filament; carpels 18 to 20; leaves 12 to 25 cm. in diameter, more or less 

 spotted beneath, primary veins 12 to 20, prominent; coll. Perrottet, 1830, Senegal, seen 

 in hbb. Delessert, Boissier, DeCandolle ; also coll. Roger, Dec, 1823, Senegambia, in 

 hb. Kew (with the note " Les graines servent de nourriture aux negres ") ; also coll. 

 Buchholz, Eliva Sonanga, Cape Lopez, West Africa, in hb. Berlin. N. caerulea Guill. 

 & Perr. has " leaves strongly peltate, impunctate, red beneath, lobes long, free, acute " ; 

 types coll. Perrottet, 183 1, Senegal, in hbb. Delessert, Kew; also coll. Leprieur, Sept., 

 1821, " in paludosis prope Ngalete, regio Cago, Senegambia," in hb. Delessert; also 

 coll. C. Barter, Baikie's Niger Expedition, No. 7064, 1858, at Nupe, in hb. Paris. N. 

 caerulea var. albida Guill. & Perr. has larger flowers than the type, with narrow lanceo- 

 late petals, nearly white ; types coll. Perrottet, Walo, Senegambia, in hb. Delessert ; also 

 coll. Leprieur in same district in hb. Delessert. This is apparently identical with N. 

 micrantha Hook. Caspary's " N. micrantha Hook." (notes and herbarium, now in hb. 

 Berlin) has an orbicular leaf with wide sinus and obtuse lobes, with or without black 

 spots beneath; petals ovate, white, 3.8 to 4.5 cm. long. This plant was much used by 

 Caspary in hybridization, giving well-marked intermediates with the closely allied iV. 

 caerulea Sav. (seen in hbb. Kew, British Museum, Berlin). 



Nymphaea heudelotii Planchon. (Fig. 56.) 



Flowers small, 2.8 to 5.1 cm. in diameter. Sepals lance-ovate, with black spots 

 outside. Petals 5 to 10, lanceolate, acute, bluish-white. Stamens 11 to 16; anthers 

 much longer than the filaments. Carpels 4 to 10. Leaves almost or quite entire, ovate 



