CHAPTER VII. 



HYBRIDS AND GARDEN VARIETIES. 



Beginning with Nymphaea devoniensis in 185 1, a continually increasing 

 number of forms of waterlily has become known to cultivators. The origin 

 of these was in some cases accidental, in others due to artificial hybridiza- 

 tion. In the first case there may have been cross-pollination by insects, 

 or variation or mutation all equally problematical to the systematist and 

 uncertain for the general student. In the second case, careless or ignor- 

 ant methods leave room for much doubt as to parentage, and very often 

 the facts are withheld or distorted for trade purposes. Only in very few 

 cases, therefore, is our knowledge of the origin of the various garden 

 varieties at all reliable or useful. 



For example, N. devoniensis, which appears on plate 4665 of the 

 Botanical Magazine, and was first described by Paxton in Gardeners' 

 Chronicle for July 10, 1852, is said in the former article to have been pro- 

 duced by crossing N. rubra with N. lotus a red species with a white. 

 The seeds were obtained in autumn of 1850 at Chatsworth, England, and 

 the plant is said to have flowered from April to October, 1851. But the 

 points of difference of the so-called hybrid from N. rubra are more robust 

 growth, more floriferous habit, and a very slightly lighter color. In other 

 words, there is almost no trace of the influence of N. lotus. Since Hooker 

 and Thomson stated that just such a plant is common and native in India, 

 its hybrid origin is generally disbelieved. It is probably a self-fertilized 

 seedling of N. rubra. As to the color of leaves and flowers, we had in 

 the summer of 1901 three flowering plants of A^. rubra (?) raised from one 

 and the same tuber. One was grown in a half-barrel of earth in a tank 

 1 .4 meters square, in company with N. marliacea-chromatella, N. tetragona, 

 and the water-poppy ; the flower was of a light magenta red, and the leaves 

 brownish green. Another was in a half-barrel in a pond with plenty of 

 leaf-room, and had deep red-brown leaves and pure magenta flowers. The 

 third was in a tub of earth 1.6 meters in diameter and 60 cm. deep, with 

 plenty of leaf-room ; it resembled the second, but had larger leaves and 

 flowers, and the latter still deeper in color. There is, therefore, great 



variation, according to conditions of growth. 



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