Taxonomy Nymphaea capensis. 157 



capensis; after examining the types, beside much other material from South Africa 

 and Madagascar in the European herbaria, we can see no basis for a separation of 

 these forms. 



N. capensis grows easily and flowers and fruits freely. Caspary (1877) consid- 

 ered it incapable of self-pollination, but it produced much seed in the Botanic Garden 

 of the University of Pennsylvania (1900), though it had usually but one flower open 

 at a time. 



Introduced at Kew by F. Masson about 1792, carried from the Cape in H. M. S. 

 " Gorgon," Captain Parker. 



Var. madagascariensis (DC.) new comb. 



" Leaves narrowly peltate, 5.1 to 6.3 cm. in diameter, obtusely sinuate, impunctate, 

 glabrous, lobes divaricate. Flowers blue. Sepals 4, green outside, oblong, subobtuse, 

 2.1 cm. long. Petals 8, oblong, subacute, 4 inner ones smaller. Stamens 8 to 12, 

 shorter than the petals. Carpels 8 to 12. Rhizome small, sub-spherical." (DeCan- 

 dolle, 1821 b, 1824). A small form of N. capensis. 



Nymphaea madagascariensis, DeCandolle 1821 b, 1824. Planchon 1853 b. Not Caspary 1880. 



Geographic Distribution. Madagascar. 



Types. Coll. Brugiere, Madagascar, 1801, in hb. DeCandolle. Other speci- 

 mens coll. Bernier, No. 159, " etangs a Ling-raton," in hb. Paris; coll. Perville, No. 

 677, Feb., 1841, Ambongo, Madagascar, in hb. Paris; coll. Perrottet, 1820, Madagascar. 

 in hb. Paris ; coll. Chapelin, Madagascar, in hb. Paris ; coll. Boivin, 1847-52, Mada- 

 gascar, in hb. Paris. 



Notes. Caspary (1880) regarded DeCandolle's type as a dwarf, of which the 

 larger specimens of Perrottet, Goudot, and Rutenberg were more perfect forms. We 

 recognize, with Caspary, that our knowledge of Mascarene Nymphaeas is extremely 

 deficient, but it has seemed best to include all the larger ones in N. capensis, and to 

 recognize these smaller ones simply as dwarfs of that species. This view is supported 

 by the known capacity of the species, and especially of the var. zanzibariensis, to 

 develop small flowers when in limited quarters. A study of living plants can alone 

 settle the question. 



Var. zanzibariensis (Casp.) new comb. 1 (Plate XI; Fig. 61.) 



Leaves large, somewhat peltate, nearly orbicular, closely and irregularly sinuate- 

 dentate; sinus closed, angles not produced; under surface more or less suffused violet. 

 Flower large, open from 1 1 a. m. to 5 p. m. Sepals green, spotless, margins purple, 

 inner surface deep purplish-blue. Petals 18 to 24, oblong, obtuse, deep blue (light 

 blue or rosy in varieties). Stamens very many (136 to 242), appendages and back of 

 outer anthers deep blue, shading to carmine-purple (in the type). 



Nymphaea zanzibariensis, Caspary 1877, fid. original specimens from hb. Casp. in hbb. Berlin, Kew, 



Munich ; 1882. Andre 1882. Moenkemyer 1897. Tricker 1897. Conard 1901 a. 

 N. stellata var. zanzibariensis, Hooker 1885. Rev. Hortic. 1897. Not N. stellata, Willdenow 1797. 



1 Referred to in the text, for the sake of brevity, as " N. zanzibariensis." 



