THE BOOK OF GARDENING. 



The under-mentioned is a General List of Tropical and 

 Tender Nymphaeas grouped in Day- and Night - Flowering 

 divisions, in order that a selection may be the more readily 

 made ; observations on Victoria regia and Eiiryale ferox are also 

 included. 



Day - Flowering Nymph^as. — N. cape?isis (iV! scutifoHa), a 

 native of the Cape of Good Hope, has fragrant flowers that are 

 above medium size, the colour being a beautiful clear blue ; it is 

 extremely floriferous, and one of the earliest to expand its 

 flowers in the morning, but invariably closes them earlier in the 

 day than any other day-flowering kind. The plant is of vigorous 

 growth, with large, pale green leaves prettily scalloped at the 

 margins ; it is very handsome, and merits being represented in 



all collections of tropi- 

 cal Water Lilies. N. 

 Da2ibenyana (Fig. 

 604) is a very hand- 

 some hybrid between 

 N. stellata and N. 

 micrantha ; it origi- 

 nated in the Oxford 

 Botanic Garden, and 

 is named in honour 

 of Dr. Charles 

 Daubeny, a former 

 Professor of Botany 

 of that University. 

 The sweetly - scented, 

 medium - sized, star- 

 shaped flowers are of 

 a pale blue, and have 

 yellow stamens tipped 

 with blue ; their 



fragrance is pro- 

 FiG. 604. — Nymph.^la Daubenyana. nouncedly that of 



Violets ; it is perhaps 



the most floriferous, and the period of its flowering is 

 longer than that of any Water Lily in cultivation, in fact, 

 it might be termed a perpetual flowerer, for it is seldom 

 out of blossom ; it is of the easiest culture, readily propagated, 

 and of vigorous growth. Like its parent N. micrantha^ it 

 is distinguished by the formation of viviparous buds on 

 the upper surface in the angles of the lobes of the leaves, 

 which soon develop into small plants and often produce 

 flowers about the size of a penny-piece when they are still 

 attached to the parent plant. Its excellent qualities entitle it 

 to be included in the most select collections. N. elegaiis is 

 a Mexican species, with fragrant flowers of medium size, and of 



