ORDER NYMPH ACE^l. 361 



albumen ; this bag has been mistaken for a cotyledon, wrapping 

 round the embryo, whose real cotyledons were overlooked ; so 

 that the seed has been erroneously considered monocotyledonous. 

 521. The flower of the White "Water- Lily offers many points 

 of interest. It consists of about twenty-five thickish oblong 

 leaves of a white colour, arranged in whorls of five each ; the 

 five external ones are green at the back, and may be regarded as 

 forming the calyx; towards the interior of the flower, the petals 

 gradually become smaller, and are tipped with yellow at their 

 points, which are thickened. From these a very gradual transi- 

 tion takes place towards the form of the stamen, as heretofore 

 described (. 460) ; and the inner rows of stamens (which are 

 usually all together about 50 in number) shorten and produce less 

 perfect anthers. The ovary has the lower floral leaves adherent 

 to it, so that the stamens appear to arise from just below the 

 stigmas. It consists of ten or eleven distinct carpels, which 

 adhere closely together ; their several walls still forming com- 

 plete partitions in the ovary, each chamber or cell of which 

 contains a large number of ovules. The ovary is surmounted by 

 a number of orange-coloured stigmas, radiating from the centre, 

 very much as in the Poppy ; but as they are all united at the 

 centre, they are considered as forming but a single pistil ; and the 

 plants of this order are therefore arranged, with those of the 

 Poppy tribe, in the Linnaean class and order POLYANDRIA Mono- 

 gynia. They agree in possessing some bitterness and astringency 

 in their juices ; and also in being all floating plants. They are 

 most abundant in the northern hemisphere, and have been said 

 to be entirely absent from South America; but a species has 

 been recently discovered there, which in size and splendour far 

 surpasses all others. This is the Victoria reyalis ; of which the 

 leaf is from 5 to 6 feet in diameter, salver-shaped, with a rim 

 rising from its edge, of from 3 to 5 inches high, green inside and 

 crimson on the exterior. The flower is of proportional dimen- 

 sions, the expanded calyx sometimes attaining a diameter of 23 

 inches ; this contains several hundred petals, which are at first of 

 a white hue, passing gradually towards pink in the centre, and 

 those nearest it becoming pink throughout. As in the common 



