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and entire, without stipules, and have often an aromatic 

 smell. The flower is regular and has a high conical 

 thalamus. The sepals are three ; the petals six in two 

 series, or only three ; the stamens many, closely packed 

 in spirals on the conical thalamus, with very short 

 filaments, and the connectives produced as a sort of 

 crest or head on the top of the anthers. The ovary 

 consists nearly always of numerous separate carpels 

 spirally arranged and each with its own stigma. 

 The seeds are large with hard endosperm into which 

 the seed-coat projects in plates (ruminate), while the 

 embryo is very small. 



The family is easily distinguished by the flowers 

 having sepals and petals in three's, by the numerous 

 spirally placed stamens, by the anthers having ex- 

 panded connectives, and by the numerous free carpels 

 and large seeds with ruminate endosperm. 



NYMPH^EACE^E 



Examples : 



NELUMBIUM SPECIOSUM, Willd., the Sacred-lotus, a 

 well-known plant which can be found in many temple 

 tanks. The plant is fixed by the roots to the mud 

 at the bottom of the water, and has a number of 

 leaves with long stalks and round peltate blades, the 

 surface of which is such that drops of water coming 

 on them do not stick, but can be rolled about and 

 easily fall off without wetting the surface. 



The flowers are borne singly on tall leafless stalks 

 (scapes). Sepals four or five. Petals numerous almost 

 round, without any stalk or claw. Stamens also 



