NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



165 



Anecphya. N. gigantea is a tender variety with blue scentless 

 flowers. The varieties violacea and Harrisomana have smaller flowers, 

 coloured violet and lilac-blue respectively. They are natives of 

 AustraHa. 



Brachyceras. N. elegans is a native of Texas, Mexico, and Rio 

 Grande. This beautiful plant opens its pale violet flowers in the 

 morning. N. ampla, from tropical and subtropical America, has 

 white starry flowers ; so also have the varieties speciosa and pulchella. 

 N. flavo-virens, with white sweet-scented flowers, crossed with N. 

 zanzihariensis, yields valuable hybrids. 



A^^. stellata and its varieties are natives of Java and Borneo, and 

 the flowers open at night. The type is pale blue, cyanea blue and 

 versicolor dark pink. N. coerulea is the blue lotus of Egypt. The 

 white variety is very rare. N. Hendelotii and N. ovalifolia have blue 

 flowers. iV. calliantha, from South- West Africa, is violet-purple, and 

 the variety tenuis white. N. capensis, from Madagascar, opens its pale 

 blue flowers at night. The variety madagascariensis bears small blue 

 flowers, and zanzihariensis dark blue, richly perfumed, opening at 

 night. There are pale blue and pink varieties. A^. sulfurea, from 

 West Africa, and A^. Stuhlmannii have aromatic yellow blossoms. 



Castalia. N. mexicana, a native of Florida, Texas, and Mexico, 

 bears a bright yellow flower on a stem rising above the water. N. 

 tetragona is found in East Europe, A'sia, and North America. It opens 

 its small white buds at night. N. fennica has small white or pink 

 flowers ; A^. Candida, from the north of Europe and Asia, also small 

 white flowers. N. alba is a variable species from Europe and North 

 Africa. Its pure white flowers last about four nights. The variety 

 rubra, from Sweden, has pink petals. N. odorata, from South Virginia, 

 flowers in the day from June to October ; the pure white blooms are 

 sweet scented. The seed is either sown as soon as ripe or kept in 

 cold water till the spring. The white variety minor and the red 

 rosea are rare ; gigantea, from Mexico and Cuba, opens its white flowers 

 at night. N. tuberosa, from Arkansas, opens its large white flowers in 

 the daytime from July to December. 



Lotus. A^. Lotus, a native of Egypt, Madagascar, Central and 

 West Africa, bears rather large white flowers often suffused with 

 pink. N. Zenkeri, from the Cameroons, has small white flowers in 

 July. N. pubescens, from Java, Australia, and the Philippines, and 

 N. rubra, from Bengal, are night bloomers. The former is white and 

 the latter purple. 



Hydrocallis. N. amazonum is an interesting species from Jamaica, 

 Guiana, Brazil, and Mexico. A^. Rudgeana, from Central America, 

 opens its greenish-yellow blossoms at night. N. blanda, from Guiana, 

 Guatemala, and Jamaica, and A^. lasiophylla and N . tenerinerva, both 

 from Brazil, are white. N. Gardneriana is found in Brazil and 

 Paraguay with red petals. 



Hybrids. A^. X pennsilvanica is a fine hybrid of A^. coerulea and 

 AT. zanzihariensis. The pale blue flowers are open day and night. 



