NYMriLEACE.E. ( WATER-LILY FAMILY.) 55 



indehiscent, 1-8-seeded on the dorsal suture. — Stems slender, leafy, 

 coated with mucilage. Flowers small. 



1. Brasenia. Stamens 12 - 18 : filaments slender. Leaves all peltate. 



Suborder II. NELrMBOME.E. (Neltjmbo Family.) 



Sepals and petals numerous in several rows, passing gradually into each 

 Other, and with the indefinitely numerous stamens hypogynous and decid- 

 uous. Pistils several, 1-ovuled, separately immersed in the obconical re- 

 ceptacle, which is much enlarged and broadly top-shaped at maturity, the 

 imbedded nut-like fruits resembling small acorns. Embryo large ; no al- 

 bumen. — Petioles and peduncles all from the tuberous rootstock, the cen- 

 trally peltate leaves and the flowers large. 



2. Nelnmbium. Character of the Suborder. 



Suborder ILL NYMPH^ACEJE proper. (Water-Lily F.) 

 Sepals 4-6, and petals numerous in many rows, persistent or decaying 

 away, either hypogynous or variously adnate to the surface of the com- 

 pound 8 - 30«celled ovary, which is formed by the union of as many car- 

 pels ; the numerous ovules inserted over the whole inner face of the cells, 

 except at the ventral suture. Stigmas radiate as in Poppy. Fruit bac- 

 cate, with a firm rind. Petioles and peduncles from a thick rootstock. 



3. Nymphiea. Petals adnate to the ovary, large 5 the stamens on its summit. 



4. Nuphar. Petals, very small and stamen-like, and stamens inserted under the ovary. 



1. BRASENIA, Schreber. Water-Shield. 



Sepals 3 or 4. Petals 3-4, linear, sessile. Stamens 12-18: filaments fili- 

 form: anthers innate. Pistils 4-18, forming little club-shaped indehiscent 

 pods : stigma linear. Seeds 1-2, pendulous on the dorsal suture ! — Rootstock 

 creeping. Leaves alternate, long-petioled, centrally peltate, oval, floating on 

 the water. Flowers axillary, small, dull-purple. (Name of uncertain origin.) 



1. B. peltata, Pursh. (Hydropeltis purpurea, Michx.) — Ponds and slow 

 streams. June - Aug. — Leaves entire, 2' - 3' across. (Also a native of Puget 

 Sound, Japan, Australia, and Eastern India! 



Cabomba, the other genus of the group, occurs from N. Carolina southward. 



2. NELTJMBIUM, Juss. Nelumbo. Sacbed Bean. 

 - The only genus of the suborder. (Nelumbo is the Ceylonese name of the East 

 Indian species, the pink-flowered N. speciosum.) 



1. N. luteum, Willd. (Yellow Nelumbo, or Water Chixquepix.) 

 Corolla pale yellow: anthers tipped with a slender hooked appendage. — Wa- 

 ters of the Western and Southern States ; rare in the Middle States : intro- 

 duced into the Delaware below Philadelphia. Near Woodstown and Swedes- 

 boro, New Jersey. Big Sodus Bay, L. Ontario, and in the Connecticut near 

 Lyme; perhaps introduced there by the aborigines. June -Aug. — Leaves 

 usually raised high out of the water, circular in outline, with the centre de- 



