LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



211 



This work is all going on in the spring before the 

 plant blossoms. It does not bloom until about the 1st 

 of May. The flower is like the white pond -lily in 

 form, but the inner surface of the petals is plain yellow, 

 while the outer surface — as we often see in the white 

 lily — is streaked 



with pink. It »»|. 

 probably ripens '" **** K :i ' 1 ' ""'""' 

 seeds, but I stayed 

 in Florida only 

 long enough to 

 see it w.ell in 

 flower, and when 

 I returned, late in 

 autumn, I could 

 find no seeds. 



The cut on page 

 208 represents a 

 plant* soon after 

 the old leaves have 

 been cut down by 



frost. In December, 1876, the leaves all sud- 

 denly disappeared from the surface of the water 

 — the effects of a sharp frost — but in Janu- 

 ary of the following year new ones reached the surface. 



The upper surface of these new leaves is beautifully 

 variegated with dark purple, and light and dark shades 

 of green, and sometimes yellow; the under surface is 

 a deep purplish red. 



LEAF OF NV.MPH.KA Fl.AYA 



