WATER LILY FAMILY 



NYMPHAEACEAE 



SWEET-SCENTED WATER LILY 



Nymphaea odorata Ait. 



The Sweet-scented Water Lily has been called the 

 queen of our waters and well merits the name, for 

 few flowers are held in higher esteem. According to a 



legend of the Lanape 

 Indians this flower orig- 

 inated from a falling star, 

 which upon striking the 

 water changed into a 

 Water Lily. It is closely 

 related to the Lotus of 

 the Old world, a flower 

 which has always been 

 a symbol of the Buddhist 

 religion. In many places 

 the great beauty of the 

 Sweet-scented Water 

 Lily has threatened to 

 be the cause of its de- 

 struction, for its flowers 

 have been shamefully 

 collected by hundreds and peddled on our city streets. 



This plant is found in ponds and slow streams from New- 

 foundland to Manitoba and south to Louisiana and Florida, 

 blooming from June to September. In Illinois its common situ- 

 ation is the eastern and lake area of the state. 



The white flowers are i,-G inches broad and wonderfully 

 fragrant. They float upon the surface of the water in a field ot 

 waxy green leaves which have a tendency to assume reddish 

 tints on the under surface. The 4 sepals are dark green outside 

 and white or pinkish within. The many firm petals, pure white 

 or tinged with pink, are in several rows, and the outer petals 

 are larger. At the center are many pure yellow stamens, the 

 inner slender and with long anthers, and the outer broader and 

 almost petallike. The many pistils are united into i large com- 

 pound ovary with the stigmas radiating from the top. After 

 the flowers have faded, they are drawn beneath the surface ot 

 the water, where the fruits ripen. 



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