82 GREAT WHITE WATER-LILY. 



as many interesting circumstances of her history, 

 conspire to claim for her the especial notice of our 

 nature-loving poets; and the fact that her Eastern 

 congeners still held sacred by the natives of the 

 regions they inhabit are mentioned in the earliest 

 records of literature, may be deemed sufficient of it- 

 self to draw the admiring eye of every lover of na- 

 ture towards this noble flower. "Well is it remark- 

 ed, in " English Botany," " India may boast her 

 Palm-trees and America her Magnolias, but the lat- 

 ter scarcely exceed our Nymphsea in magnificence, 

 and the most noble and celebrated of all Indian pro- 

 ductions is, in fact, a Water-Lily Nymphsea Ne- 

 lumbo. That, however, does not more exceed the 

 other vegetables of this country than this every Bri- 

 tish plant besides. It has altogether the air of a 

 tropical production." Certain it is that 



" The large-leaved Lotus, on the waters flowering," 

 is not more admired by the botanists of the East, 

 than is the White Water-Lily of Britain by the bo- 

 tanists of her own land. 



The Nymphsea alba (as science terms it) may be 

 familiar to every reader who has wandered amid the 

 lake scenery of our land. Although the circumstance 

 of its being truly an aquatic plant, requiring deep 

 and still water for its successful development, has the 

 effect of preventing its universal occurrence through- 

 out our country, yet the Great White Water-Lily is 

 by no means rare. It prevails very generally on our 



