Taxonomy Nymphaea alba. 



177 



Size of Leaves. 



Mature floating leaf circular or round-ovate, entire or slightly emarginate at apex, 

 somewhat leathers-, usually dark green above, paler in astomatic area and over primary 

 veins ; yellowish-green or reddish beneath ; reddish or even dark red when very young ; 

 marginal line brownish-red. Sinus reaching to the petiole, open or closed, margins 

 curved, or rarely nearly straight, separated, touching or overlapping; angles obtuse. 

 Veins of the lobes, if produced, diverging. Stipules large, lanceolate, narrowly emar- 

 ginate, bicarinate, entirely free, far overreaching the apex of the rhizome. 



Rhizome horizontal, often very thick (5 to 8 cm.), becoming 90 to 120 an. long, 

 black, with prominent leaf cushions. Apex protected by the long stipules and the usual 

 long fine hairs. Phyllotaxy of a high order, about 13 on 34. Branches few, stout, 

 strongly attached. 



Geographic Distribution. Europe 

 and Northern Africa. Great Britain (Smith 

 1800, etc.). Denmark, France, Germany, 

 Italy, Spain, Greece. Algeria (Planchon 

 1853 b) . Sweden. E. g. Heldreich, Herbar. 

 Graecum Norm., No. 1 106, coll. in " Euboea 

 Septentrionalis : in stagnis Suvala ad cumen 

 Tympanon in Telethrii." Steinitz, Flora 

 exsiccata Austro-Hungar., No. 2056, " Hun- 

 garia : in aquis stagnantibus prope Rakos in 

 ditione Pestinensi." C. Scholz, No. 775 of 

 A. Callier : Flora Silesiaca exsiccata, Editio 

 1895, " Guhrau : Wald bei Gabel." Lignier, 

 No. 3452 in Magnier, Fl. select, exsicc, 

 1893-4, " Loir-et-cher : Villeherviers, etang 

 au Glandier." 



Notes. This is the Nymphaea par 

 excellence of the classic botanists. It has a 



wide distribution and varies much in size of leaf and flower, as well as in the color of 

 all the parts, and the shape of the fruit. Hentze ( 1848-52) distinguished several varie- 

 ties which so fully retained their characteristics in cultivation and in propagation from 

 seed that he regarded them as practically of specific rank. N. splendens was so named 

 for its orange-yellow instead of sulphur-yellow stamens, and was collected in ponds in 

 " Reinhardswalde in Niederhessen " and between Beberbeck and Hombrcssen. N. 

 urceolata was characterized by the deeply urceolate stigma; collected between Rodcl- 

 heim and Bockenheim, and at Bergen near Frankfurt a. M.; also at Darmstadt 

 ("grossen Wog"), Buchrainweihern near Heissenstamm, and Bulau near Hanau. N. 

 venusta, with many (24) petals and (90) stamens, and a cup-shaped flower, seemed 

 especially showy ; collected in the so-called " Grosse Judenteiche " at Gosslar in the 

 Harz. N. rotundifolia was named for the shape of its leaves ; collected near Heringen, 

 " Kleinensee im Werra-Thal." Hentze's typical N. alba came from Sweden (Upsala). 

 N. erythrocarpa was characterized by the blood-red tissues of the interior of the fruit, 

 and came from " Bremerhafen, aus dem Lande Hadeln." N. parviilora was distin- 

 guished by its small flowers (7 to 10 cm. across, the others being 10 to 15 cm.), accom- 



Size of Fruit. 



14 



