nelumbiaceje. (nelumbo family.) 21 



making a lid. Seeds many in several rows on the lateral placenta, with a fleshy 

 lacerate aril on one side. — A perennial glabrous herb, with matted fibrous roots, 

 long-petioled root-leaves, parted into 2 half-ovate leaflets, and simijle naked 1- 

 flowered scapes. (Named in honor of Thomas Jefferson.) 



1. J. dipliylla, Pers. — Woods, W. New York to Wisconsin and south- 

 ward. April, May. — Low. Flower white, 1' broad : the parts rarely in threes 

 or fives. — Called Ehmmatism-^oot in some places. 



5. PODOPHYIitUM, L. May- Apple. Mandrake. 



Mower-bud with 3 green bractlets, wliich early fall away. Sepals 6, fuga- 

 cious. Petals 6 or 9, obovato. Stamens as many as the petals in the Hima- 

 layan species, twice as many in ours : anthers linear-oblong, not opening by up- 

 lifted valves. Ovary ovoid -. stigma sessile, large, thick, and undulate. Truit a 

 large fleshy berry. Seeds covering the very large lateral placenta, in many rows, 

 each seed enclosed in a pulpy aril, all forming a ma^s which fills the cavity of 

 the fruit. — Perennial herbs, with creeping rootstocks and thick fibrous i-oots. 

 Stems 2-leaved, 1-flowered. (Name from ttoCj, a foot, and (piXKov, a leaf, from 

 a fancied resemblance of the 5 - 7-parted leaf to the foot of some web-footed 

 animal.) 



1. P. peltatuni, L. Stamens 12-18; leaves 5-9-parted; the lobes 

 oblong, rather wedge-shaped, somewhat lobed and toothed at the apex. — Rich 

 woods, common. May. — Flowerless stems terminated by a large, round, 7-9- 

 lobed leaf, peltate in the middle, like an umbrella. Flowering stems beaiing 2 

 one-sided leaves, with the stalk fixed near the inner edge ; the nodding w^hite 

 flower from the fork, nearly 2' broad. Fruit ovoid, l'-2' long, ripe in July, 

 slightly acid, mawkish, eaten by pigs and boys. Leaves and roots drastic and 

 poisonous ! 



Order 6. ]VEL,UMBIACE.a:. (Nbltjmbo Family.) 



Huge aquatics, like Water-LiUes, but the pistils distinct, forming acorn- 

 shaped nuts, and separately imbedded in cavities of the enlarged top-shaped 

 receptacle. Seeds solitary, filled with the large and highly developed embryo : 

 albumen none. ■ — ■ Sepals and petals colored alike, in several rows, Bypogy- 

 nous, as well as the numerous stamens, and deciduous. Leaves orbicular, 

 contrally peltate and cup-shaped. — ■ Embraces only the singular genus 



1. WEIilTMBIUM, Juss. Nblcmbo. Sacked Bean. 



Character same as of the order. (Name Latinized from Ndumho, the Coy- 

 lonese name of the East Indian species.) 



1. W. lutciltn, Willd. (Yellow Nelttmbo, or Water Chinqhepin.) 

 Corolla pale yellow : anthers tipped with a slender hooked appendage. — Wa- 

 ters of the Western and Southern States ; rare in the Middle States : introduced 

 into the Delaware below Philadelphia. Big Sodus Bay, L. Ontario, and in the 

 Connecticut near Lyme ; perhaps introduced by the aborigines. June, July, 



