14 WATER-LILY FAMILY. 



dressed to a popular audience, it would be out of 

 place to enter upon a discussion of this purely physio- 

 logical question; and we cannot do better than refer 

 the scientific reader to that important work, the 

 " Vegetable Kingdom," for an extremely concise yet 

 comprehensive view of the various opinions em- 

 braced by different botanists regarding the true cha- 

 racter and position of the Nymphseas. 



To these plants, various properties have been at- 

 tributed which, in the present day, are not by any 

 means generally recognised, and Dr Wight has sug- 

 gested that they may have originally arisen, as in 

 many similar instances, from the circumstance of the 

 plants inhabiting the " cool and placid waters, com- 

 bined with the chaste whiteness of their flowers." 

 However, the roots, as well as the seeds, of all the 

 species abound in starch; and, though not now in so 

 very high repute among the natives of the various re- 

 gions they inhabit, they were, in the earlier ages, 

 more especially in the East, valued as wholesome 

 food. Even in the present day, some of the species are 

 used to a considerable extent. The seeds of Nym- 

 phsea rubra a magnificent Indian species, of fre- 

 quent occurrence, inhabiting the fresh-water pools 

 and gently-flowing rivers are used by the natives, 

 and considered wholesome the roots, however, be- 

 ing only resorted to in times of scarcity or famine. 

 Various other species afford food to the aborigines 

 of the tropics, the seeds being manufactured into 



