By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 99 



interest, while the extraordinary magnitude of some species, the 

 curious circumstances connected with the habits of others, the im- 

 portant peculiarities of their structure, and the obscurity which 

 until lately has hung over their true systematic relations, have 

 contributed to make them also favourites with the scientific botan- 

 ist. It is only within a recent period that we have become ac- 

 quainted with the most magnificent species of the " Nymphceacece," 

 which was discovered in the still waters or Igaripes of tropical 

 America, especially in Guiana, and in the tributaries of the Amazon 

 by Sir Robert H. Schomburgh, the eminent traveller sent out by 

 the London Geographical Society to investigate the geography and 

 natural productions of that region. According to this botanist, 

 " The flower is from twelve to fifteen inches in diameter, consisting 

 of upwards of a hundred petals passing in alternate tints from pure 

 white to rose and pink. When the flower first opens, it is white 

 with pink in the middle, which spreads over the whole flower as it 

 advances in age, and it is generally found the next day entirely of 

 a pink colour. The calyx is four-leaved, each leaf being upwards 

 of seven inches in length, and three inches in breadth. The stem 

 of the flower is one inch thick near the calyx, and is studded with 

 sharp elastic prickles about three quarters of an inch long. The 

 leaves which float on the surface of the water are somewhat circu- 

 lar, of a light green on the upper surface, and a bright crimson 

 beneath, from five feet to six feet five inches in diameter. They 

 are not simply flat, like the leaves of our water lilies, but are fur- 

 nished with an upright rim from three to five and a half inches 

 deep surrounding the margin, and giving the leaf the appearance 

 of a large salver. The stalk is inserted into the under surface of 

 the leaf near to its centre, from which radiate eight large prominent 

 veins, nearly an inch in elevation, branching towards the circum- 

 ference, and connected by intermediate raised bands, at right 

 angles, giving the whole an areolated structure, similar to a gigan- 

 tic spider's net. These reticulated elevations, as well as the leaf 

 stalk itself, are covered with long elastic prickles, like those with 

 which the flower is supplied. The upper surface of the leaf is 



