76 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
of the exterior stamens petaloid, bearing on their inner faces anther 
lobes, which are shorter than those of the interior stamens, the 
filaments of which are strap-shaped. Carpels numerous, immersed 
in a fleshy torus, in which they are arranged in a ring, and with it 
united to form a half-inferior compound ovary, with as many cells 
as there are carpels; summit of the ovary concave, with a small 
globose or conical process, formed by the excurrent summit of the 
torus which passes between the carpels. Stigmas radiating, as many 
as the carpels, each style with an incurved appendage extending 
beyond the stigma and edge of the summit of the ovary. Ovules 
numerous, pendulous from the sides of the carpels. Fruit a spongy 
berry, ripening under the water, and bearing on its surface scars left 
by the decay of the petals and stamens. Seeds imbedded in pulp, 
with a succulent arillus open at the apex. 
Flower white, red, or blue. 
SPECIES I—NYMPHAA ALBA. Zinn. 
Prats LIII.* 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. VII. Nymph. Tab. LX VIT. Fig. 117. 
Leaves nearly round, entire, with a deep sinus at the base, lobes 
approximate. Rays of the stigma 15 to 20, yellow. 
Var. a, major. 
Flowers 4 or 5 inches in diameter. Stigma with about 18 rays. 
Var. 2, minor. 
Flowers 8 inches in diameter, or even less. Stigma with the 
rays seldom exceeding 16. 
Not unfrequent, and generally distributed in lakes, ponds, and 
ditches from Cornwall to Shetland. Var. 6 less common than a, 
and probably a state rather than a variety. 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 
Rhizome thick and fleshy, horizontal, creeping in the mud, 
producing leaves and flowers from the apex. Leaves 4 to 9 inches 
in diameter, on long stalks, floating on the surface of the water, 
* The Plate is E. B. 160, with additional dissections by Mr. J. E. Sowerby. 
