40 VI. NYMPH^CE^. 



8. NELUMBIUM, Juss. 

 (From Indian name Xduwbo.) 



Sepals' i or 5, ftee. Petals and stamens numerous, hypogynous. Anthers 

 opening inwa,r'ds, the connective produced in a club-shaped appendage. Carpels' 

 several, half-imniersed ill the flat top of an obconical torus, the styles shortly 

 projectilig, with somewhat dilated terminal stigmas. Ovules 1 or 2 in e^ch 

 carpel, suspended from the top of the caVity with a, dorsal raphe. Nuts globose- 

 oval, shortly protruding from the Cells of the large flat-topped torus. Seeds with 

 a spongy testa, without albumen ; cotyledons thick and fleshy, enclosing a much- 

 deveiloped plumula ; radicle very short. Leaves peltate, supported above the 

 Water on erect petioles. Flowers solitary, on erect scapes above the water. 



Besides the following Asiatic and Australian species there is a second one from the West 

 Indies. 



1. N. speciosum (showy), Willd.; Wight III. l.t. 9; Benth. 1<1. Austr. i. 

 62. Pink water lily, sacred lotus. Aquaie, N. Queensland, Thozet. An erect 

 large water herb with a milky juice ; robtstock stout, creeping. Leaves raised 

 high above the water,, orbicular, peltate, somewhat concave, 1 to 2ft. diameter, 

 quite entire or slightly sinuate, glabrous and often somewhat glaucous. Peduncles 

 and petioles 3 to 6ft. high, full of spiral vessels, smooth or more often bearing 

 scattered prickles. Flowers pink, 4 to Sin. or more across, appendages to the 

 anthers linear-clubshaped. Fruiting torus resembling a wasp's nest, 2 to 4in. 

 diameter ; the nuts oblong or roundish, about ^m. long, nearly black. 



Hab. : Waters of northern Queensland, where the roots and seeds are eaten by the aborigines, 

 as they were by the Egyptians and are by the native population of India at the present time. 



Order VII. PAPAYERACE.ffi. 



Flowers hermaphrodite, regular, or in Famariea, irregular. Sepals 2' or 3, 

 rarely 4, free, imbricate, very caducous. Petals 4, 6, or rarely 8 or 12, hypo- 

 gynous, free, imbricate, and often crumpled in the bud, in 2 rarely 3 series, 

 deciduous. Stamens hypogynous, indefinite, and free, or in Fumariem definite, 

 with the filaments usually united. Anthers erect, the cells opening longitudinally. 

 Ovary free, either 1-celled with parietal placentas often protruding into the 

 cavity, or rarely completely several-celled by the placentas meeting in the axis, 

 or ^-celled by a false dissepiment connecting 2 parietal placentas. Style short or 

 none ; stigmas as many as placentas, usually confluent and radiating on the disk- 

 like or dilated top of the ovary or style. Ovules indefinite, anatropous, ascending 

 with an inferior micropyle or horizontal. Fruit capsular, usually opening in 

 pores or valves. Seeds globular or subreniform. Embryo mimite, at the base of 

 a fleshy albumen. — Herbs or rarely small shrubs, glabrous and often glaucous 

 or hispid, the juice usually coloured. Leaves alternate or the floral ones alnlost 

 opposite, entire, lobed or dissected without stipuleS. Flowers usually solitary on 

 long peduncles, either terminal or in the upper axils. 



The Order belongs almost entirely to the temperate or subtropical regions of the northern 

 hemisphere. 



Sdbokdeb I. Papavereee. — Patau alike. Stamens nmnerous. Capsule utually nlwrt, 

 opening hy sftwt valves or pores. 



Stigmas 4 or more, radiating on a sessile disk 1. Papavek. 



Stigmas 4—6, rrtdiating from the top of a dejpressed style 2. Ahgemone. 



SuBORDKR II. Fumarieee. — Inner and outer petals dissimilar. Stamens definite. 

 Stamens 6, diadelphous, outer petals spurred. Fruit indehiseent, 1-seeded . . 3. Fomabia. 



