18 NKLUMBIAOKS AND NYMPILEACEiE. 



1. B. PELTATA, Pursh. Water Shield. Water Target. 



Leaves alternate, long petioled, centrally peltate, oval, floating on the water, 

 smooth and shining above; flowers on long, slender, axillary peduncles, floating on 

 the surface. 



Lakes and ponds. Often in company with the white water-lily. June and July 

 Whole plant covered with a viscid jelly. Flowers purple, one inch in diameter. 



Order 7. NELUMBIACEffi,— Water Beans. 



Aquatic Jcerbs with peltate, fleshy radical leaves, arising from a prostrate rhizoma. 

 Flowers large, solitary, on long erect scapes. Sepals 4 to 5. Petals numerous, 

 oblong, in many rows. Stamens numerous, arising from within the petals, in sev- 

 eral'rows: filaments petaloid; anthers adnate. Pistils distinct, numerous, form- 

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

 ihaped receptacle. Seels solitary, filled with the large, highly developed embryo. 



NELUMBIUM. Juss. Sacred Bean. 



From the Ceylonesc name, Xdumbo. 



Calyx petaloid, of 4 to 6 sepals. Petals numerous. 

 Carpels numerous. Seeds large, round, solitary. — Peren- 

 nials. 



1. N. luteum, Willd. Water Chinquipin. 



Leaves orbicular, alternate, centrally peltate, very entire; anth.crs with a linear 

 appendage. 



Rivers and stagnant waters: abundant in the ditches of meadows bordering the 

 Delaware, below Philadelphia. June. Leaves a foot, or more, in diameter. I'edun- 

 cles very long, more or less scabrous. Flmers 5 to 10 inches in diameter, yellowiih- 

 white. Seeds eatable. 



Order 8. NYMPHS ACE JE— Water Lilies. 



Aquatic herbs, with round or peltate floating leaves, and solitary showy flowers from 

 a prostrate root-stalk. Sepals and petals numerous, imbricated, gradually pawing 

 into each other. Sepals persistent. Petals inserted upon the disk surrounding the 

 pistil. Stamens numerous, inserted above the petals into the disk; filaments 

 petaloid ; anthers adnate. Disk large, fleshy, surrounding the ovary more or less. 

 Ovary with radiating stigmas. Fruit many-celled, indehiscont : seeds numerous, 

 attached to the spongy placentae and enveloped in a gelatinous aril. 



1. NYMPKiEA. Linn. Water Lily. 



Dedicated by the Greeks to the Water Nymph. 



Sepals 4, at the base of the disk. Petals numerous, 

 inserted on the torus at its base. Stamens numerous, grad- 

 ually transformed into petals. Stigma surrounded with rays. 

 Pericarp many celled, many seeded, depressed, globular, 

 covered with the bases of the decayed petals. — Perennials 

 with showy white, rose-colored, or blue /lowers. 



