28 



THE POPPY FAMILY. 



II. NUPHAR. NUPIIAE. 



Sepals about 5 or 6, concave, yellow, much larger than the outer pe- 

 tals. Carpels numerous, and radiating as in Waterlily, but united into 

 an ovary, raised on the top of the receptacle, and not imbedded in it. 

 Stigmas as many as the cells, their appendages united into a flat disk 

 upon which the stigmas themselves radiate. 



The genus, besides the European species, comprises but one North 

 American one. 



1. Yellow Nuphar. Nuphar lutea, Sm. (Fig. 34.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 159. Yellow Waterlily.) 



Leaves very nearly as in the white 

 Waterlily. Flowers yellow, raised two 

 or three inches above the water, much 

 less expanded and faintly scented, the 

 concave sepals assuming a more globular 

 form. Petals and stamens very numerous, 

 but scarcely more than half the length of 

 the sepals. Fruit globular, crowned by 

 the stigmatic disk, indehiscent or burst- 

 ing irregularly. 



Fully as common, and in many places 

 more so, than the white Waterlily, with 

 the same geographical range ; certainly 

 more general in Britain. Fl. all sum- 

 mer. It varies much in size, and in the 

 number of the stigmatic rays. A very 

 *£' ' small form, with a more indented stig- 



matic disk, found in the lakes of the north of Scotland, has been dis- 

 tinguished as a species under the names of N. pumila and N. minima 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 2292). 



IV. THE POPPY FAMILY. PAPAVERACE^]. 



Herbs, with alternate or radical leaves, usually much divided, 

 and no stipules. Flowers regular. Sepals 2, rarely 3, falling 

 off as the flower expands. Petals (in the European genera 4) 

 crumpled in the bud. Stamens numerous, distinct. Ovary really 

 1-celled, with several many-seeded parietal placentae; but these 

 placentae often project so far into the cavity, as almost, or even 

 quite, to meet in the centre, dividing the ovary into as many im- 



