THE WATER-LILY FAMILY. 405 



fusely than either parent ; and so late as December one plant 

 bore seven flowers in one day ! This hybrid, JV. Ortgiesiano- 

 rubra, is sterile i.e., will not produce fertile seeds if fecun- 

 dated with its own pollen, notwithstanding that the organs are 

 all healthy and pollen abundant. It is singular to find, how- 

 ever, that this pollen which fails to fecundate its attendant 

 stigmas, will fertilise flowers of other species. M. Planchon 

 attributes this to the absence of the necessary heat in the 

 flower of JV. Ortgiesiano-rubra at the time the stigma is recep- 

 tive, and it would be interesting to know whether the same 

 reason can be assigned for similar effects .in the case of some 

 Passifloras. A rise of temperature has been noted to take 

 place in Nymphaea flowers during the time the stigmas are 

 receptive, which is generally at night or in the early morn- 

 ing. In 1853, M. Bouche, of the Berlin Botanic Garden, 

 obtained a very pretty hybrid Nymphaa, with pale rosy flowers, 

 by fertilising the stigmas of N. rubra with pollen from N. lotus ; 

 and a second batch was raised by M. Bouche in 1857, seven of 

 which were the result of fertilising emasculated flowers of N. 

 rubra with pollen of N. lotus, and others were seedlings 

 from the first hybrids fecundated with pollen of N. lotus. M. 

 Donkelaar fertilised the Victoria and different species of Nym- 

 phcea reciprocally, but obtained no striking results, although 

 fertile seeds were obtained (see ' Belg. Hort.,' t. viii. p. 280). 

 Some years ago Mr Gower, when at Kew, made some interest- 

 ing experiments which proved very conclusively that cross-fer- 

 tilisation of the Victoria regia i.e., fertilisation with pollen 

 from other flowers on a distinct individual plant conduces to 

 increase fertility (see p. 101). 



JV. Devoniensis (see ' Bot. Mag.,' t 4665), or N. hybrida, as 

 it is sometimes called, is a hybrid raised at Chatsworth from 

 N. rubra, fertilised with pollen of N. dentata, or its near ally, 

 N. lotus. It is one of the finest of all the crimson-flowered 

 Nymphaeas. Seeing that Nymphaeas hybridise freely, and 

 afford such splendid results, we hope some cultivator will be 

 bold enough to attempt hybridising our chaste N. alba with 

 pollen from some of the more brilliant tropical species or vari- 

 eties. Why should we not have crimson, rose, and cerulean 

 Water-lilies as well as gorgeous Rhododendrons ? It may be 

 impossible, but hybridists should never give that word a place 

 in their vocabulary until they have tried and failed. 



