Taxonomy Nymphaea odorata. 



187 



Description. Flowers floating, 10 to 15 cm. in diameter, closed before 2 p. m. ; 

 odor dull or absent. Peduncles terete, rather stout, 8 to 10 mm. in diameter, in fruit 

 showing about 3 spiral turns 3.9 to 5 cm. in diameter. Sepals narrowly ovate, rounded 

 at apex, breadth : length = 1 : 2.4; outer surface green. Petals 24 to 31 (average of 13 

 flowers, 27.6), ovate or obovate, broadly rounded at apex, tapering at base, all alike in 

 shape, pure white, outermost petals very faintly tinged with purple on the back near the 

 base ; shorter than the sepals ; breadth : length = 1 : 2.9. Stamens 69 to 120 (average 

 of 9 flowers, 90.5). Carpels 15 to 23 (average of 9 flowers, 17.7) ; styles long, flat, 

 thin, bending strongly inward after anthesis ; papillose ray ending bluntly far below the 

 tip of the style. Fruit depressed globose, reddish around the bases of the styles when 

 nearly ripe. Seeds as in the type, dark olive brown, smooth, 0.224 cm. long by 0.155 

 cm. in diameter, inclosed in the aril. 



Mature leaves 40 cm. 

 in diameter (15 to 60 cm., 

 Nash 1895), apical margin 

 and part of sides turned up 

 for 2 to 5 cm., somewhat as 

 in Victoria; upper surface 

 dark green; green beneath, 

 with only a very faint tinge 

 of purplish near the margin 

 of some leaves (bright red, 

 Tricker 1897). Veins, es- 

 pecially the midrib, promi- 

 nent, 9 on each side; prin- 

 cipal area : radius of leaf = 

 1 : 1.2. Sinus open, mar- 

 gins curved; angles obtuse, 

 very little or not at all 

 produced. Petioles stout, plain green. 



Rhizomes stout, clothed with short dark hairs; yellowish-white inside; leaves 

 scattered, about 2.5 cm. apart. Branches few and stoutly attached. 



Geographic Distribution. Southeastern United States ; Delaware to Florida 

 and Louisiana; Cuba; Mexico; British Guiana. E. g. C. Wright, Plantae Cubenses, 

 No. 1856, coll. at Nueva Felipina, Cuba. R. M. Harper, No. 1212, Cane Water Pond, 

 Decatur County, Ga. Nash, PI. Cent Penins. Florida, No. 1153, vicinity of Eustis. 

 Curtiss, No. 6672, Lake Como, Fla. 



Notes. The plants which I have taken as types of this variety came from the 

 Delaware and Chesapeake Canal at the railroad bridge, 2 miles west of St. George's 

 City, Del. Here it grows in water from 60 to 120 cm. deep; in Lake Ella, Florida, 

 it grows from the shallows of the shore out to a depth of 3 to 5 meters (Nash 1895). 



If Walter's N. reniformis can be identified with any known plant, this must be 

 the one; but there is nothing but its geographical range by which to verify it, as 

 no type exists in the Walter herbarium in hb. British Museum. His description is 

 as follows : " N. reniformis, foliis reniformibus, corollis polypetalis, loculis mono- 



Fia. 09. Nymphaea odorata gigantea: , sepal; pi, p2, outer and 

 median petals ; st 1, 2, 3, outer, median, and inner stamens. Natural size. 



