18 



PACIFIC STATES FLORAL CONGRESS. 



former country, where we know it is indigenous, to the banks of the 

 Nile at a time so remote that even the Egyptians of the earliest historic 

 dynasties may have believed in its local origin. In these later days it 

 has proved itself to be equally at home on the western continent. If 

 some morning in the month of August you could pay a visit to a cer- 

 tain lakelet in New Jersey, planted by the writer, you might behold a 

 thicket of green umbrella-like lotus leaves of an acre in extent. Inter- 

 spersed among them would be many hundreds of large, rosy blossoms 

 standing above the leaves, and from three to six feet above the water. 

 The lotus has been naturalized in California, one instance being in East 

 Lake Park, Los Angeles. As to its culture, it prefers a heavy soil well 

 enriched. It may be grown in a large, shallow wooden box submerge:'! 

 in a fountain; or a more liberal space may be given to it, in propor- 

 tion to the size of your basin or pond. The roots are tuberous, and 

 shaped like bananas. If it is desired to transplant them it should not 

 be done until the growing season arrives. There are eight or ten 

 varieties in cultivation here. 



The Egyptian lotus has rosy petals, shaded to white at the base. 



Nelunibium album striatum has very large white flowers, with a few 

 flashes of crimson. 



Nelunibium roscum plenum is deep rose red, full and double, like a 

 peony or the rose Paul Neyron. 



Nelunibium album plenissimum has pure white flowers with one 

 hundred petals. 



All varieties are hardy in the United States. 



TROPICAL WATER LILIES. 



Nymphaea Devoniensis has flowers of a bright rose-red color. If 

 grown in a pot they will be four or five inches across. If treated 

 something like the Victoria regia, that is, with a large bed of rich 

 soil and a high temperature, a single plant has been known to cover 

 a pond twenty feet across, bearing leaves two feet in diameter and flowers 

 twelve inches across. The latter open in the evening, forming objects 

 of great beauty by artificial light, though they remain open until near 

 noon the next day. 



Nymphaea George Huster is one of the finest of all tropical varieties, 

 having the same vigorous growth and free flowering qualities as N. 

 Devoniensis, but producing flowers of a much deeper and more brilliant 

 shade of crimson. 



Nymphaea Dentata has milk-white flowers with petals expanding 

 horizontally, producing a flat, star-shaped blossom. The roots of the 

 three above-mentioned kinds are tuberous, remaining dormant in 

 winter. 



