366 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 288. 



manure and be careful to use with it good fibrous loam. 

 For our Nympha^as this year we have added a good 

 sprinkling of inch-crushed bones, and they have grown 

 exceptionally well and flowered most profusely. I counted 

 seventy beautiful open flowers in our Nymphcca-tank a few 

 days ago at ten o'clock in the morning, the high-noon of 

 the Nymphteas, as the Lotus section have not then closed 

 and the stellata section have just opened. Among our 

 choicest kinds I reckon the white fragrant N. gracilis, a 

 Mexican species which we obtained last year under the 

 erroneous name of N. Mexicana. It is a very free-flowering 

 species, does not occupy too much space, and is distinct 

 from all other white-flowered Nympha^as, its nearest affinity 

 in floral character being the white form of N. stellata known 

 as N. Voalefoka. The delightful little Water-lily known as 

 N. Laydekeri has found many admirers here. It is said to 

 be of hybrid origin, but I suspect it is really a Japanese or 

 Chinese introduction and is a not very distant relation of 

 N. pygmaja, which is a native of northern China as well 

 as India. Mr. Sturtevant, of New Jersey, has done much 

 to promote a love for Nympha^as, and one of his best 

 works in this direction was the production of N. Sturte- 

 vantii, a hybrid I believe from N. rubra and N. dentala. 

 Its large apple-green leaves with short stalks give it quite 

 a distinctive appearance when not in flower, but when its 

 enormous blooms are open it surpasses in beauty most 

 Nymphaeas, the soft delicate pink with a creamy-yellow 

 hue in the base of the broad petals suggesting the colors of 

 that charming tea-rose, Marie Van Houtte. We have had 

 this fine American production in cultivation since 1884, 

 thanks to the generosity of Mr. Sturtevant, and the only 

 fault I have to find with it is its sterility in regard to seed 

 and its slowness to multiply itself by means of tubers. Of 

 course, the sterling Lotus varieties known as N. dentata, 

 N. rubra, N. Devoniensis, and N. Ortgiesiana are well 

 represented in our tank. The hybrid N. Kewensis no 

 longer exists except in effigy, the figure in the Botanical 

 Magazine, t. 6917, being all that remains of this handsome 

 rose-red hybrid which died while at rest three years ago. 



Coming to the Nymphsea stellata forms, we begin with 

 the king of them all, N. Zanzibarensis, which first flowered 

 at Kew about twelve years ago. I remember well the in- 

 credulity of our late keeper of the herbarium when I told 

 him one morning that we had a new Nymphaea with rich 

 purple-blue flowers nine inches across. No Nymphaea better 

 repays liberal treatment than this, the largest of flower-pots 

 being too small for it. Planted in a large bed of rich soil, 

 and allowed room to develop, it will cover almost as much 

 space as the Victoria, and produce leaves two feet across. 

 There are poor debilitated forms of it about, and there 

 are some which are called varieties which are merely 

 slight variations from the ordinary steUata. I am puzzled 

 by such names as scutifolia, cyanea, ccerulea and parvi- 

 flora, all the plants I have seen under these names, and I 

 have seen and grown a good number from various source?, 

 being practically identical. I have heard Sir Joseph Hooker 

 describe the true scutifolia as a very distinct variety with 

 broad petals, rounded, not pointed, at the tips, and colored 

 clear blue, but I have never seen it ahve. Any one who 

 examines a large series of specimens of N. stellata such as 

 that at Kew, which now includes the collection formed by 

 the late Professor Caspary, the high-priest of the Nymphaea 

 cult, will feel disposed to question a considerable propor- 

 tion of the so-called varieties. We have what I consider 

 four distinct varieties of N. stellata in cultivation at Kew, 

 and they are N. Zanzibarensis, N. versicolor, a poor thing, 

 distinct only in having more purple in the flowers than the 

 type and with a streaky look ; N. albiflora (Voalefoka), and 

 one that we call the Berlin variety. This came to Kew 

 from the Berlin Botanical Gardens years ago as N. Zanzi- 

 barensis. It is remarkable for the length of its flower- 

 stalks, the flowers standing up as much as a foot above the 

 surface of the water ; they are larger than ordinary N. stel- 

 " lata, with numeseus acute petals colored pale, almost Cam- 



bridge blue, with a cluster of pale yellow stamens. I once 

 sent flowers of this to Professor Caspary, who said it must 

 be of hybrid origin, though he would not even guess at its 

 parentage. I believe it is only a well-marked variety of N. 

 stellata, and I long ago classed it among the very best of 

 all Nymphaeas ; as to size and attractive color of flower it 

 adds a very free habit and the valiaable character of flow- 

 ering almost the whole year round. The forms of N. tube- 

 rosa and N. odorata are grown in the open air, and they 

 have all flowered with unusual prodigality this year. But 

 the enigmatical N. tuberosa, van flavescens, which Mon- 

 sieur Marliac, of Garonne-sur-Lot, insists is a hybrid, and 

 has named N. Marliacea-chromatella, is a charming plant 

 indoors as well as out. I may say at once that Professor 

 Oliver, after very careful examination of this Nymphaea, 

 unhesitatingly decided it to be a variety of N. tuberosa, and 

 we have since called it by the above name. I think there 

 is much to be said for this name in preference to the other, 

 but that is a question which need not have attention here. 

 I only wish to emphasize the fact that it is a most charm- 

 ing Water-lily, as beautiful in its way as Marechal Niel 

 Rose, very free in flower, and of the sturdiest constitution. 

 We have it established in our lakes, where it is rapidly be- 

 coming as indifferent to ducks, geese, snails and cold 

 weather as our native Water-hly, N. allaa. It is equally 

 beautiful in a tropical tank, flowering very freely all the 

 summer through. The elegant N. flava grows with us, and 

 blooms only rarely. There are two beautiful Nymphaeas 

 which Monsieur Marliac calls N. Marliacea rubra and N. 

 Marliacea rosacea, and which are of the same good nature 

 as N. tuberosa flavescens ; they have large flowers, white, 

 with a deep rose tinge, that named rubra being the darker 

 of the two. I saw both these Water-lilies growing and 

 flowering out-of-doors in the Trinity College Gardens at 

 Dublin in June last, and Mr. Burbidge was delighted with 

 them and full of their praises. They were also flowering 

 in a tank in the open air at Glasnevin. 



There is another blue Water-lily, Nymphaea gigantea, 

 the Australian species, which fills the lagoons there with 

 large turned-up leaves and correspondingly large elegant 

 blue flowers, but does not grow to the same size under cul- 

 tivation here. N. Amazonum, or blanda, a creamy white, 

 very fragrant-flowered species, from South America, is also 

 grown here. It is remarkable as an early closing Water- 

 lily, the flowers opening in the evening and closing soon 

 after sunrise next morning. 



A word in conclusion for N. alba and its beautiful 

 variety, rosea, once called Caspariana. This is hardy, of 

 course, and it is exceptional in its refusal to grow in our 

 tropical tank, although the rose-colored variety of N. 

 odorata, the Cape Cod Nymphaea, grows and flowers freely 

 along with the tropical species. 



Permit me to make a suggestion to cultivators of 

 these beautiful plants. We want red, white, pink, yellow, 

 blue and purple Nymphaeas that will open their flowers in 

 the morning and remain open for at least the major por- 

 tion of the day. We also want all these colors in hardy 

 sorts. It is possible that our desiderata can be obtained 

 by cross-breeding and selection, and the numerous collec- 

 tors and cultivators of these plants in America are in the 

 best possible position to accomplish this. The first thing 

 to achieve is a cross between the Lotus and stellata spe- 

 cies. So far as I know, this has never been done. N. stel- 

 lata and its varieties expand their flowers a little before 

 noon, and close at night ; N. Lotus and its varieties expand 

 at dusk, and close before noon. Probably a cross between 

 the two would remain expanded all day. 



Here are two cultural hints which may be useful : i. 

 Do not dry off your plants if you can keep them moist 

 through the winter. They will be quite safe if placed un- 

 der a stage in a greenhouse. 2. Keep the seeds dry in 

 ordinary packets, and not in water. They will then retain 

 vitahty for several years. 



London. W. WatSOIt. 



