THE NIGHT BLOOMING WATER-LILIES 127 



in the early morning sunshine. The petals 

 are thin and soft in texture, and spread 

 gracefully in all directions in the fully 

 opened flower. The sepals and lowermost 

 petals become reflexed. The many brownish- 

 red stamens stand erect in a ring at the 

 centre of the flower. 



As this kind is a very free bloomer, a 

 single root will always have one or two 

 mature flowers. It begins to bloom in July 

 and continues until frost. The circle of 

 large bronzy-red leaves alone is an ornament 

 to the garden. 



Comparable with this is Nymphcea Stur- 

 tevantii. Under favourable conditions these 

 flowers, too, may reach a foot in diameter. 

 But it never opens more than to a wide cup- 

 shape. The bright pink petals are broad 

 and concave, evenly coloured and very 

 numerous. The incurved stamens are of a 

 brownish orange colour. The bronzy leaves 

 are often very large, and always much crum- 

 pled at the margins. It requires plenty of 

 room and a high temperature to give the best 



