8 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXVI, 
NYMPH/EACE. 
In several respects the Nymphzaceze suggest the Alismales, 
rather than the dicotyledons, with which they are usually asso- 
ciated. Some of the earlier botanists, among them Jussieu, 
considered the Nymphzeacez as true monocotyledons; but all 
later botanists have agreed in placing them with the Poly- 
carpice, or Ranales, among the most primitive of the dicoty- 
ledons. The discovery that Nelumbo has a monocotyledonous 
embryo at once raises the ques- 
tion whether the other genera 
are also monocotyledonous. 
The structure of the flowers, 
especially in the simpler genera, 
Cabomba and Brasenia, is very 
much like that in some of the 
Alismales, and the character of 
the vascular bundles, as well 
as their arrangement in all the 
Nymphezeacez, is similar to that 
in the typical monocotyledon- 
ous stem. The form of the 
leaves, also, is often very sug- 
gestive of the sagittate leaves 
of Alisma or Sagittaria. This 
is seen in Nuphar, especially 
Fic. 1. — Seedling of Victoria regia,showing When growing in shallow water, 
" Pages iie pee (From and the early leaves of other 
Nymphzacez (Fig. 1) are re- 
markably similar to those of Sagittaria. Whether or not this 
resemblance of the young leaves of these Nymphzacez to 
those of the Alismales is really an indication of relationship, 
it is worth noting in connection with the other points of 
resemblance. 
From Lyon's studies upon the embryo of Nelumbo it appears 
that in this genus the apparent two cotyledons are the result 
of a bifurcation of a single cotyledon. The stem apex arises 
laterally as in typical monocotyledons, and, as in these, the 

