Taxonomy Nymphaea tetragona. 167 



Geographic Distribution. Florida, Texas, and Mexico. "Lagoons of the 

 lower Rio Grande southward to the Valley of Mexico, and westward to the valley of 

 the Lerma, State of Jalisco" (Pringle 1890). Lake Xochimilcho, Valley of Mexico, 

 coll. J. W. Harshberger. Brownsville, Texas, coll. Pringle, Flora of Texas, 1888, No. 

 1956. In Florida : St. Johns River, from Jacksonville southward for 40 miles (Treat, 

 1877, fid. original specimens) ; Curtis, North American Plants, No. 101 a and Second 

 Distribution No. 4815. Miami River; Prairie Creek (both in hb. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 Phila.). Little River, coll. Dr. J. M. Macfarlane, cult, in Botanic Garden, Univ. of 

 Penns) 'r-vania. Reservoir Pond, Palm Beach, coll. Mr. Thomas. Also coll. Rugel, " ad 

 fl. Alachua, Florida or." July, 1848, in hb. British Museum. 



Notes. Zuccarini's description of N. mexicana ascribes white flowers to it, 

 whereas the leaf agrees with that given above. Examination of the types leaves no 

 doubt as to the identity of the plants now so familiar in cultivation ; the white color 

 must have been purely a guess, as Professor Radlkofer suggested to me. The dried 

 specimens are brown like the average herbarium specimens of the European waterlily. 



Our conclusion to unite the Florida and the Mexican plants comes only after pro- 

 longed consideration and comparison, and it is to be regretted that the very suggestive 

 name N. fiava has to be abandoned. It has seemed to us that the leaves of the Mexi- 

 can plant are thicker and rounder, with less of purple coloration beneath. The floral 

 leaves also are a little broader than those of the Florida plants. A fruit on Pringle's 

 No. 1956 in hb. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. seems to have been nearly spherical, while the 

 fruits of the Florida plants in our garden were ovoid. We have not been able to 

 secure living plants direct from any Mexican locality. The Prairie Creek specimens, 

 collected by Garber in 1878, have leaves more nearly orbicular than those from other 

 Florida localities ; this is probably because they grew in shallow water. We see in cul- 

 tivation like variations from this cause. 



The name N. fiava Leitner rested on the floral decorations and name on Audu- 

 bon's plate of the great white swan; the leaves accompanying the yellow flowers are 

 evidently those of a Nuphar. Excepting Rugel's unrecognized specimen, the species was 

 known only by that plate until Dr. Edw. Palmer in 1874 sent a dried specimen to Har- 

 vard, with a statement of its yellow color. Mrs. Treat, however, in 1876, again dis- 

 covered the plant, and made it known by sending ample material both fresh and dried 

 to Harvard ; from there it was sent to Kew, where it flowered first in July, 1882. 



B. CHAMAENYMPHAEA Planchon 1853 ft. 

 Flowers white or rosy, opening near noon and closing in the late afternoon. 

 Innermost stamens first to dehisce. Pollen aculeate or tuberculate. Seed of medium 

 size. Leaves entire, obovate to oval. Principal air-canals in peduncle 4, in petiole 2; 

 idioblasts stellate only. Rhizome erect, short, entirely without offsets (at least in N. 

 tetragona) . Native of the North Temperate Zone, especially in China and Japan. 



Nymphaea tetragona Georgi. (Plate XIV; Fig. 65.) 

 Flower small, 2.5 to 5 cm. across, white, with a small number of floral parts ; re- 

 ceptacle distinctly tetragonal. Leaves ovate, small (2.5 to 12 cm. long), green above 

 with brown blotches when young, under surface dull red; sinus open, lobes acute. 

 Petiole with 2 main air-canals. Rhizome erect, covered with projecting leaf-scars. 



