NelumhiacetB.'] flora indica. 347 



DisTRiB. America borealis, a Canada ad flum. Mississippi ! Australia 

 orientalis. 



Peduncitlus pubesceus, apice infra florem incrassatus. Flos ^ unc. longus. Sepala 

 3, lineari-oblonga v. lineari-obovata, obtusa, dorso setulis caruosuUs conicis pubes- 

 centia, concava, basi crassa. Petala 4, sepalis \ longiora, perigyna, rosea, basi dis- 

 tantia, auguste lineari-oblonga, apicibus incurvis obtusis, dorso basi puberula. Sta- 

 mina 8ub-12, obscure biseriata, hypogyna, carpcUis opposita et altema, iilamentis 

 cylindricis demum elongatis puberulis ; aniheris linearibus glabris, rimis lateralibus. 

 Pollen (in alcohol conservatum) irregulariter globosum, opacum, obscure granulosum, 

 disco pellucido angustissimo circumdatum. Carpella 10, disco piano inserta, 2- 

 seriata, sessilia, lincaria, cylindracea, puberula. Ovula 2, pendula, anatropa, rapbe 

 ad suturam versa. Carpella matura 3 v. plura, turgida, coriacea, indehisccntia, stig- 

 mate persistente cuspidata, submonosperma. Semen magnum, ovoideum; testa 

 Crustacea, Isevi. Albumen farinaceum, et embryo ut in Nymphaa. 



XIII. NELUMBIACEiE. 



Sepala 4-5, imo toro inserta, deoidua. Petala plurima, multiseriata, 

 libera, decidua. Stamina plurima, cum petalis imo toro multiplici 

 sei'ie inserta ; Jilamentis supra autheram in appendioem productis ; an- 

 tlieris introrsis, loculis adnatis. Torus carnosus, obconicus, apice lato 

 truncate. Ovaria plurima, foveolis apicis plani tori singillatim basifixis, 

 unilocularia ; stigmate discoideo subsessili. Ovulum solitarium v. 2 

 collateralia, suspensum, funicnlo filiformi parieti ovarii affixo ; raphe dor- 

 sali. Nuces subglobosse, stylo superatse, coriaceo-corneae, e tori foveolis 

 semi-emersae, longitudinaliter obscure dehiscentes. Semen inversum, 

 testa spongiosa ; embryo exalbuminosus, orthotropus ; cotyledones crasse 

 carnosa3, plumulam diphyllam valde evolutam foventes, petiolis inflexis 

 vagina stipulari inclusis ; radicula brevissima. — Herbse, rhizomate elon- 

 gato horbontali, foliis longe crasse petiolatis, lamina peltata integerrima 

 nervis radiantibus marginibus vernatione involutis, floribus amplis. 



We bave, under the Order Nymfheeaceee, considered Nelumbinm as a member of 

 the group Nymphales, and stated some of our objections to M. Trecul's opinion, that 

 these two Orders have nothing in common, but their numerous petals and stamens, 

 and the medium they inhabit. The most prominent diiferences between them reside 

 in the form and structure of the rhizome, the development of the leaves, the deci- 

 duous perianth and stamina, and the remarkable development of the torus, the sessile 

 small carpels, with one (rarely two collateral) pendulous ovulum, and the exalbuminons 

 seeds, with a very highly-developed plumule. Though these distinctions appear so 

 great, they are much diminished in value by a study of Brasenia, which, in its 

 rhizomes and mode of growth, is as different from Nymphaa as Nelumbium is, and 

 whose ovaria are of exactly intermediate structure. The great torus of Nelumbium 

 is a peculiar development of that oiNymphcea ; and, as Asa Gray has demonstrated, the 

 embryo of Nymphaei^ and Cabombets is just that of Nelumbium on a smaller scale. 

 If the germinating seed of Nymphcea be compared with the embryo of Nelumbium, 

 the affinity is very obvious ; the principal modifications being the inflexed petioles of 

 the plumule of the latter plant, and the stipulary sheath enclosing it, which last is 

 perhaps analogous to the sheath enclosing the first leaf within the primary pair of 

 leaves of Nymphcea. Trecul has admirably illustrated the anatomy and development 

 of Nelumbium codophyllum (Ann. Sc. Nat. Ser. 1. 391), and made some most im- 

 portant and interesting observations on the mode of growth of the leaves and pe- 



