THE EQUATORIAL ZONE. 295 



Water Lily tribe (Nymphaacea) ; it has the same general 

 character as our White Water Lily (Nymphaa alba), but is 

 two or three times larger ; the white petals deepen into a 

 beautiful salmon tint at the base, the outer ones being re- 

 flexed, whilst the inner ones, which are narrower than the 

 others, and of a rose-colour, stand erect, so as to form a 

 kind of crown in the centre of the flower. The leaf is the 

 most wonderful part of the plant when full-grown, not only 

 on account of its great size the diameter being sometimes 

 above six feet but for the prodigious strength of its 

 nerves, which on the lower surface are developed in an ex- 

 traordinary manner, and have a strong membrane attached 

 to them, so that if the leaf, as it floats on the water, is 

 turned up so as to show the under surface, the spaces be- 

 tween the crossings and recrossings of the nerves look like 

 a number of cells each about an inch or two deep distri- 

 buted regularly over the whole leaf ; these, when filled with 

 water, give support to the leaf throughout all its im- 

 mense surface. When fully grown the margin of the leaf 

 is turned up, so as to form a rim all round, of an inch 

 or two in depth, which gives it an appearance which has 

 been, not inaptly, compared to an old-fashioned circular 

 tea-tray. The strength of the leaf is so great, that a little 



