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The Victorias are the largest of all the water-lilies—leaves often six feet across and the flowers one foot; white the first evening, changing to pink on the second night. 
To the left of the expanded flower is an opening bud, and still further to the left a spiny leaf bud (V. Cruziana) 
Water-Lilies for the Business Man—By Henry S. Conard tii" 
THE TENDER NIGHT-BLOOMING KINDS THAT OPEN THEIR FLOWERS AT SEVEN O'CLOCK—WONDROUS GLOWING GARNET 
REDS AND MAGENTAS THAT FLOWER FROM JULY TO FROST, AND ONE THAT GIVES THIRTY FLOWERS AT ONCE 
HE  night-blooming water-lilies, which 
we may properly term the lotos group, 
open their flowers between seven and eight 
p. M., and they remain open until from nine 
to one o’clock of the following day. Each 
flower does this on three successive nights. 
These are therefore preéminently the busy 
man’s water-lilies; the proper kinds for the 
suburban dweller who is away from home 
and garden throughout the day. 
They are all tender. In habit they re- 
semble their day-flowering relatives. The 
leaves are numerous and mostly large—up to 
two feet across—and lie flat on the water. 
A single plant will cover a space ten or twelve 
feet square. Yet they get on well in smaller 
quarters. I knew a red one that bloomed 
all one summer in a tank four feet square, 
where two hardy water-lilies and the water- 
poppy also shared the space. 
The margin of the leaf in all the lotos 
group is scalloped, with sharply pointed 
teeth. The flowers, when well grown, are 
large and massive, and are borne on stout 
Article XI of the “Little Monographs” series 
stalks six to twelve inches above the surface 
of the water. In color we have all shades, 
from pure white through pink to magenta and 
deep red. 
A REALLY BEAUTIFUL MAGENTA 
To my eye, the most splendid member of 
this group is Nymphea Omarana. Its noble 
flower reaches a diameter of ten or twelve 
inches. In color, it is of a brilliant purple- 
red hue, close to ‘“‘magenta” of the color 
charts. Each petal has a narrow, nearly 
white, stripe along the middle. It has, as 
Tricker says, ‘‘an indescribable glow”? when 
seen 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 lower- 
most 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 
70 
frost. The circle of large bronzy-red leaves 
alone is an ornament to the garden. 
Comparable with this is Nymphaea Stur- 
tevantit. Under favorable 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 colored and very numerous. 
The incurved stamens are of a brownish 
orange color. The bronzy leaves are often 
very large, and always much crumpled at the 
margins. It requires plenty of room and a 
high temperature to give the best results. It 
is the most massive in flower and foliage of 
all the true water-lilies. 
THE BEST RED LILY 
Of a darker shade than either of the pre- 
ceding, though a parent of both, is Nymphea 
Devoniensis. ‘This again has flowers of the 
largest size, but of a pure red color. The 
petals are ovate, four or five inches long by 
an inch and a half wide. The flower does 
not expand so widely as that of Omarana, 
es 
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