PRESENT-DAY WATER LILIES. 



255 



hot weather no artificial heating is necessary, but during such a period 

 as the present (dull and sunless) a slight warmth is beneficial. Our 

 tanks are chiefly arranged on the western side of a range of houses, 

 where a connexion with the pipes therein was easily made, and really 

 no very perceptible amount of extra firing is ever needed to keep the 

 water at the temperature indicated. Those to which I now refer are 

 N. siellata, Berlin var., and N. pulcherrima. The latter is the more 

 vigorous of the two, and will, if warmth be afforded during the winter, 

 flower almost perpetually. In 1910, during May, I put one plant of 

 N. stellata, Berlin var., into the open lake as an experiment. It 

 flowered fairly well, and, much to my surprise, it remained alive all 

 the winter without any protection whatever, and grew and flowered 

 fairly well again in 1911 ; but the winter of 1911-12 was too much fo# 

 it. I have found both keep safely through the winter in a minimum 

 temperature of 55° F. The other variety — N. gig ant ea var. Hud- 

 soniana — was raised at Gunnersbury some years back. It requires 

 slightly more warmth than the other two — say, 5° more. It is some- 

 times difficult to start into growth in the spring, the young tubers 

 making a few leaves and then refusing to be coaxed into the flowering 

 stage. When in flower, it is the finest blue in cultivation. 



The following Nymphaeas have, at various times since July 1895, 

 received either first-class certificates or awards of merit from the 

 Floral Committee of the Eoyal Horticultural Society: — 



Hardy varieties : 



White — A^. Marliacea albida and N. Gladstoniana. 



Yellow — N. M. chromatella, N. Mooreana, and N. odorata sid- 

 phurea grandiflora. 



Pink,- shades of — N. Laydekeri rosea, N. M. carnea, N. M. rosea, 

 N. odorata rosacea, N. o. rubra, N. ' Mrs. Eichmond,' and N. for- 

 mosa. 



Eed, shades oi—N. Ellisiana, N. gloriosa, N. ' Jas. Br}^don,' N. 

 Laydekeri fulg ens, N. M. flammea, N. M. rubro-punctata, N. Robin- 

 soniana, N. sanguinea, N. 'Conqueror.' 



Deep Crimson — N. atropurpurea. 



Tender varieties : 



Blue — A^. gigantea, N. stellata pulcherrinm, N. ' Wilham Stone,' 

 N. Listeri and N. gigantea Hudsoniana. 



Crimson and pink, shades oi—N. devoniensis (night flowering), 

 A', zanzibarensis rosea, AT. ' Mrs. C. W. Ward,' A^. stellata rosea, 

 N. ' Lord Brooke,' and A^ ' Earl of Warwick.' 



