NUTTAIjLIA 



odor." It endures the 

 ! Arnold Arboretum, Bo 



If. spUndidum. adv. 1333 by John Saul, is presumably 

 error. Probably some other genus. 



NYCTEKtNIA. See Zalii 

 NYMPHffiA. (fn 



skya. 



veral species show 

 and from petal to 



,,L'v of floral parts. 



, I .. .1 l.v a number 

 - ~ tar-shaped 



1 Nijmpha, in Greek and Roman 

 j-goddess). Syn., Castatia. Nym- 

 piTicZef ' Wate«-"l.ly. Pond-lily. FIks. .1498-1502. 

 The most splendid of aquatics (except Victoria), inhab- 

 iting the north and south temperate and tropical zones. 

 About •12 well-marked species, with numerous local vane- 

 ties and many cultivated hybrids. Herbs, perennial by 

 horizontal or erect rootstocks or tubers, rooting in mud, 

 covered by 3 in. to 6 ft. of water (rarely m bogs not 

 submerged): Ivs. floating, or when crowded rising a 

 few inches above the water, round or oval, entire or 

 dentate or sinuate, flssi-cordate. often sub-peltate. 2 in. 

 to 2 ft. in diam.: fls. mostly showy, white, yellow blue 

 and red, in all shades, 1-12 or 14 in. a.Toss ; sepals 4; 

 petals and carpels many; stamens very nuraerou-;; pis- 

 til with a broad cup-like depression in the center of the 

 fl., surrounded by a ring of fleshy processes, the car- 

 ne'llary styles, and with a knob at the center. 



The petals and stamens of Nympha>a appear to be at- 

 tached to the sides of the ovary: but this surface is to 

 be considered as the outsid.- ..f a coplike receptacle, its 

 cavity being complet.ly lill.d by tl„. radially placed car 

 pels, with whose bai-k-^ it i^ 1' 

 easy gradations from sepal 

 stamen, thus illustrating tli 

 The peduncles and petioles 

 of longitudinal air-canals, f i 

 cells and rounded cell-groui ; - - ""; '° >:'>« 

 walls of these stellate intern,. I lim- :m. i,ni„,bled num- 

 berless minute crystals of calciiiiii oxalate ; they aie 

 obiects of great beauty in microscopical sections. 1 he 

 distribution of these, as also of the air-canals, differs 

 in different species. Three types of leaf may be dis- 

 tin.'uished: (1) verv thin and fragile submerged leaves 

 on short petioles; (2) floating leaves, thicker in texture, 

 with stomata and palisade cells on the upper surface 

 only; (3) aerial leaves, leathery in texture, sometimes, 

 at least, bearing stomata on the under surface. 



The leaves come from the rhizomes in spiral orders 

 of varying complexity, from two-flfths up; the growing 

 apex of the stem is protected by the colorless stipules 

 and a dense growth of long, fine hairs. The roots spring 

 usually from the bases of the leaves. Flowers are extra- 

 axillary, arising as members of the leaf spirals or in a 

 spiral of their own. The rhizomes of species which 

 dry off in the resting season (Lotos, Hydrocallis, Lyto- 

 pleura) become protected by a strong corky bark; others 

 remain continually in a state of more or less active 

 growth. 



Habits of 0/ieiHii7.— The flowers of every species 

 open and close at a particular time each day, so that in 

 a pond with 18 or 20 kinds there is some change taking 

 place at almost all hours. The hours of blooming are 

 quite regular, though the tropical species are more 

 sluggish in cool weather^and the hardy ones are irregu 

 lar in very hot ti 



Each flower opens in from one 

 n successive days (or nights), be- 

 ing about an hour later to open and an hour earlier to 

 close on its first than on subsequent days. The flower 

 then goes down into the water by a spiral coiling of the 

 peduncle (or simply bending over if in shallow water) 

 where the seed ripens. When in to 10 weeks the pod 

 matures and bursts, the seeds rise to the water-surface 

 and float for several hours by means of a buoyant aril; 

 this finally decays and drops the seed at some distance 

 from the parent. To secure these, the floating seeds 

 may be dipped up in a wire sieve, or better, the pods 

 may be inclosed in muslin or cheese-cloth bags before 

 rioening, all of the seeds being thus secured. 



The Hybrids.- The species of a single group hybrid- 

 ize quite readily among themselves, and in the Lotos 

 group the hvbrids are more or less fertile. By means 

 of this condition all shades of color have been obtained, 

 from the pure white IV. Lotus, var. dentata. to the dark 

 crimson-red N. rubra. In this group and in Castalia. 

 varieties have so multiplied of late and fanciful names 



NYMPH^A 1101 



have been so freely given that an accurate classification 

 of all of them is no longer possible. In the Brachyceras 

 group, hybrids occur almost certainly if iV. Zamibar- 

 iensis is grown in the same pond with others of the 

 group; thus have originated some very fine varieties. 

 Outside of single groups only Castalia and Xanthantha 

 have yet been interbred. Between the apocarpous and 

 syncarpous species, the writer ventures to suggest, a 

 hybrid would be impossible. Authorities differ as to 

 the best time to transfer pollen; certain it is that the 

 flowers are pistillate on the first day of opening, the 

 pollen being shed on succeeding days, or late on the 

 first day. Some say that pollination should take place 

 in the early morning hours, about daybreak ; others 

 consider the time most favorable just as the flower is 

 closing for its first time. 



TroubleuHth the Names. -Grir.it .•..„liisi, 

 from the beginning in the naming' -:ilik'' 

 popular— of certain species of Nyni|.liaM 

 carelessness, partly be.Mii-. 1 il. 'H 

 some species. A go.«l .1 ' " 



■ Caspary, though In- 1- i ' i ii 



isted 

 : aud 



.v.' 



Egyi 



lSfl2 



by the, .lit, .,-,.[ V..M. 



also iluiiiidi-a wit 



India. Caspary, in 

 the matter straight, tl 

 not all corrected. IV 

 confused because De 

 ampla consists of a I 



Mus. I'.iiis. 1 p. ::i;i; t 



illi .V. Ca.iiciisis, of S 

 and several other wrii 

 1 the very similar X. 



^r::;„::;. 



u,|-:,-:,n.asyet 



I 'Ill were 



;.,. -n of iV. 



h :i il..«rr of the 

 as been distrib- 

 aame. Both are 

 Flora Brasilien- 

 gardens is prob- 



I ;V^. blanda was 



II most faulty de- 



nted 



fully described Ijy 



sis (Fasciculus , , 



ably a form of A 



first used by (i. I" 



scription of a iiu- 



name was .atfa.'li 



group by later \vi 



nvniy in Fl. Brasil., I.e. 

 'The True Eiiyptian Lotus.— Kmong common names 



the term "Lotus" has been remarkably misapplied. 

 istently used among us for the genus 

 „ ,iiii'ifii-n being generally styled 

 ariiil l.i.tiis." Historically this is 

 rhinil.o is not native in Egypt, and is 

 ,;■ in a wild state. It Was cultivated 



iption and syno- 



It seems 



Nelurabo, Jc/iiw/"- 

 "Egyptian" or "Si 

 entirely wrong. N'- 



extensively alons; t 

 ably tor food, and 

 nished one form of 

 is a native of south 



,, i pi ian columns. It 

 1 , , Miiid near temples 



r:nr i( iiiiilrs in Hindustan, 

 sho'wing a" veneration, which it shares, however, with 

 Numphwa stellata, rnhra and Lotus. Nelumbo seems 

 to have been regarded as sacred about temples m Japan 

 and China. In Egypt, however, Ny inphma cwrulea and 

 N. Lotus, the "blue lotus" and "white lotus," are indige- 

 nous The root (rhizome) of the former is said to have 

 been pointed out as edible by Isis-or by Menes; its 

 flowers, buds and leaves are often depicted on the monu- 

 ments, the first sometimes in color. The flowers are 

 figured among offerings under the IV. dynasty (3998- 

 3721 B.C.), and the plant is certainly known from the 

 V dvnastv Petals of this and of N. Lotus were found 

 in'th- t..mV,,.fRaiiis.-s IT. .the Pharaoh of the Israelitish 

 p.,,, Ill II. V /. '/',s WHS hss regarded than N. carulea. 



jj'^ |,- , . I,,, i,|,,t of profound veneration in 



j,„l,!; II ,,mI otli.r ancient writers speak of 



^l„.^i \\ I ,1 i: : iMli-iiitiiinately as the "lotos" of the 

 E"v|.iriii- NViili tli.-se facts, and the additional one 

 tlri't , Si. 1.1 IS 11 r. lied to above, Nelumbo never appears 



i„'K„v,,iiii, rviii-s. the identity of the sacred lotus 



caiiii.~i I..' i|.. 111. II .1. Hut the erroneous use of the word 

 lotus is .l,M|.ly ri.iited, and may never be supplanted. 

 Person illv tlir iniilersigned would not attempt to up- 

 root it but i.nlv t.. remember that the so-called "Egyp- 

 tian L.iius" isiii.t the plant of the tombs and monuments. 

 (The lotus of Tennyson's poem, "Lotus Eaters," is still 

 another plant, a shrub or tree which bangs out over the 

 water; and the genus Lotus (q. v.) is distinct from all 

 these.) 



