WILD FLOWERS OF NEW YORK 99 



Sweet-scented White Water Lily 

 Castalia odorata (Aiton) Woodville & Wood 



Plate 57 



Aquatic, with a thick, horizontal rootstock. Leaves floating, orbicular 

 or nearly so, 4 to 12 inches in diameter, glabrous, green and shining above, 

 purple and somewhat pubescent beneath, the sinus open or almost closed, 

 petioles and peduncles slender with four main air channels. Flowers white 

 or in some varieties pink or rose-colored, 3 to 6 inches broad, very fragrant, 

 with four greenish sepals and numerous, narrowly oblong, blunt petals, the 

 inner ones shorter and narrower and gradually passing into stamens; 

 stamens numerous and yellow. Carpels numerous, united into a compound 

 pistil with radiating, linear, projecting stigmas, becoming a globose, fleshy 

 fruit and ripening beneath the surface of the water by the coiling of the 

 peduncles. 



In ponds, lakes and slow streams, Newfoundland to Manitoba, south 

 to Florida, Louisiana and Kansas. Flowering from June to August. 



Tuberous White Water Lily 



Castalia tuberosa (Paine) Greene 



Plate 58 



Leaves orbicular, 5 to 12 inches in diameter, floating, green on both 

 sides, sometimes slightly pubescent beneath, sinus open or closed. Root- 

 stock thick, with numerous lateral tuberous-thickened branches which 

 become detached and propagate the plant. Flowers white, 4 to 9 inches 

 broad, slightly fragrant or inodorous; petals oblong, broader than those of 

 C. odorata, obtuse. Fruit depressed-globose. 



In shallow water of bays and protected coves, Lake Champlain, Lake 

 George, Oneida lake and along the Great Lakes to Michigan, south to 

 Delaware and eastern Nebraska and Arkansas. Flowering in July and 

 August. 



