BOTANICAL INDEX. 
matter, which runs oft' in large drops. The leaf- 
stems are round, tough, and contain a fine, silky 
fiber, arranged spirally in the stalk, which the 
Hindoos draw carefully out, and after twisting to- 
gether use as wicks in the sacred lamps of their 
temples. The stem is traversed its entire length 
with air canals, regularly arranged, which are fed 
from the breathing pores at the center of the leaf. 
The curious leaf is from one to two feet broad, round, 
dish or bowl shaped, with prominent radiating 
venation, and, as before stated, covered with a down, 
except a small space at the center of the leaf opposite 
to its junction with the stem, where are only found 
the stomates or breathing pores that communicate 
directly with the air canals of the stalk. This is of 
a lighter color, and devoid of the covering of down, 
etc. At first the young leaves float upon the surface 
of the water, but as the plant acquires age and 
strength the leaf-stems lengthen and carry the leaves 
from one to two feet above the surface of the water. 
The young leaves, before coming to the surface of 
the water, are inrolled at the sides, very similar in 
general form to the new growth of the Nymphcea and 
Sagittaria, or as very imperfectly represented by the 
Richardia ( Calla ) except that in place of assuming an 
arrow-shaped form, as in the last three named, the 
Nelumbium leaves present only one wing of the 
arrow point, which perhaps would compare better 
to the general form of the barbed point of a fish-hook. 
This is very indefinitely represented at the upper 
ends of the two outside stalks, in Fig. 49, which is 
intended to represent two young leaf-stems before 
reaching the surface of the water. Upon the leaf- 
stems, a few inches above the tuber — usually near 
the surface of the mud — is often seen a circle of 
long, fibrous rootlets, forming as it were a perfect 
crown, from which new leaves spring and new and 
separate plants are formed. The center stem in Fig. 
49 represents an old leaf-stock growing from near 
the end of the root-stock, and showing the peculiar 
mode of producing new plants from the callous, or 
corm, on the stem ; also the position of the air canals 
in the end of the leaf-stem, as also in the root-stock, b. 
But if the roots and leaves are curious, the flower 
and seed receptacle are still more so. The flowers 
appear in June and July, and are often live inches 
across when fully expanded. They are borne singly 
on long stems, similar in structure to the leaf-stems, 
and stand about one foot above the foliage — semi- 
double, of a light canary-yellow color, exquisitely 
fragrant, opening as the sun warms the atmosphere 
in the morning, but closing again on the approach 
of evening. In the center of the flower is the as yet 
undeveloped seed-pod, or torus of botanists, Fig. 51, 
containing the little ovules, (seed), distinctly and 
prominently seen rising like miniature pyramids 
above the flat surface of the torus ; but as the flower 
matures the torus grows very rapidly, so that by the 
time the petals drop it has nearly attained its full 
size and the ovules their full development. 
The Nelumbium is nowhere in the United States a 
common plant, and although it is pretty widely dis- 
tributed, it does not seem to increase to the extent 
that any other hardy plant does. This may be ac- 
counted for by a variety of reasons, but particularly 
because the seed are very light, and when once freed from the torus they float off to 
l>e eaten by water-fowls, or animals living near the water; and as the roots contain 
such a large amount of starchy matter they are also sought for by the same animals for 
food. We have been to some trouble to ascertain the different localities in the 
Fig. 49. 
Fig. 50. — Tuber of Nelumbium. 
