VI. NYMPH^ACE^. 87 



free or adnate on an epigynous disk. Ovules solitary, and suspended from the 

 apex of the cavity, or indefinite and attached to the sides of the cavity, not to 

 its inner angle. Ripe carpels indehiscent, free or united in a fleshy or spongy 

 fruit. Seeds immersed in a fleshy or pulpous arillus, or naked, the embryo either 

 small, enclosed in the embryo-sac and half immersed in a cavity of a farinaceous 

 albumen near the hilum, or without albumen, large, with thick fleshy cotyledons, 

 and a remarkably developed plumule. — Aquatic herbs, with a submerged root or 

 rhizome. Leaves carried by their long petioles to the surface of the water or 

 raised above it, usually peltate or deeply cordate, or a few remaining under water 

 and deeply cut. Flowers growing singly on long radical scapes or axillary 

 peduncles, either on the surface of the water or raised above it. 



The Order, although not numerous in species, is found in pure, quiet, or slowly-flowing 

 waters nearly all over the globe. The three Australian species belong to the three genera 

 considered as typical of as many tribes or sub-orders, raised by some botanists to the rank of 

 distinct Orders. All three genera are common to the New and the Old World. They are absent, 

 however, from the southern Australian colonies as well as from New Zealand. — Benth, 



Suborder I. CabombeSB.— ScjxiJs and petnh 3 each, free. Carpels free. Ovules few. 

 Seeds albmninous. 



Sepals and petals 3 each. Carpels 6 or more, free, on a small torus. Ovules 

 few. Flowers small 1. BIsasenia, 



Suborder II. NymphSBa. — Sepals i to 6. Petals and stamens indefinite. Carvels con- 

 fluent with one another or with the disk into one ovary. Ovules many. Seeds albuminoid. 



Sepals 4 to 6. Petals and stamens numerous, the outer ones free, the inner 

 more and more adnate to the torus. Carpels immersed in the torus in a ring 

 round a central conical projection ... 2. Nymph,«a. 



Suborder III. Ifelumbleae. — Sepals i to 5. Petals and stamens indefinite. Ca/rpels 

 irreguhtr, scattered, sunk in pits of the turbinate disk. Ovules 1 to 2. Seeds albuminous. 



Sepals 4 or 5. Petals and stamens numerous, hypogynous. Carpels half 

 immersed without order in the flat top of the torus. No albumen .... 3. Nelumbium. 



1. ERASE NIA, Sehreb. 



(Its name in Guiana.) 



(Hydropeltis, Mich.) 



Sepals 3, petal-like, and petals 3, hypogynous. Stamens 12 to 18, hypogynous ; 

 filaments subulate, anther-cells lateral. Carpels 6 to iS, free, on a small torus, 

 attenuate at the top into short styles, stigmatic along the ijiner edge. Ovules 2 

 or 3, pendulous from the dorsal side of the cavity. Bipe carpels coriaceous, 

 indehiscent. Seeds albuminous. 



The genus is limited to the following species. 



1. B. peltata (peltate), Pursh. Fl. N. Amer. 389 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 60. 

 Water shield. Rhizome prostrate at the bottom of the water. Stems forked, 

 leafy, covered as well as other submerged parts, especially when young, with a 

 thick coating of transparent jelly. Leaves floating on the surface of the water, 

 peltately attached by their centre to long petioles, oval, entire, 3 to 4in. long and 

 about half as broad. Peduncles axillary, bearing solitary flowers of a dull purple 

 on the surface of the water. Sepals and petals very much alike, about 4 or 5 

 lines long when they first open, but lengthening to 7 or 8 lines. Carpels shorter'. 

 A. G-ray, Gen. 111. t. 39. ; Hydropeltis pmyurea, Mich. Bot. Mag. t. 1147. 



Hab. : Queensland lagoons. This species. is also found in North America and the East Indies. 



