98 
BOTANICAL. INDEX. 
We find under cultivation the flowers usually last two days in perfection, but 
after the second day the closed flower sinks gradually down in the water (as shown 
on page 94) and ripens the seed, the decaying petals still adhering to the ovary. The 
rootstocks of X. odorata are long, roundish, and often as large as a man’s arm. They 
are obscurely endogenous — that is, make their growth from the end, as seen in Fig. 
61 — and lie buried in the mud, with from a few inches of water over them to several 
feet. Upon cutting the root or leaf-stems they are found to contain a large amount 
of milky juice, often farinaceous, and are consequently often used for food. Fig. 62 
represents at No. 1 a section of the leaf-stem, showing the air canals; No. 2, a cross 
section of a flower-stem; No. 3, a cross section of a leaf-stem; and No. 4, a cross 
section of a rootstock, taken fresh from the mud. The flower-stem, in addition to 
the milky juice contains in the thick outer skin a thick colored juice, which usually 
gives a pink or purple color to the stem. Although the rootstock is apparently a 
solid rhizoma, it is found to contain from ten to twenty soft, spongy or porous sec- 
tions, which serve as the air canals, and correspond to the open air canals in the 
Xelumbium. We might write to an indefinite length, to our own satisfaction at least, 
but space admonishes us we must stop. We must, however, notice 
NYMPH^EA ODOEATA. Variety obscura. 
These were first noticed growing in Massachusetts, where it was much sought 
after by connoisseurs, but it has never been very generally collected or grown. 
Botanists, who have studied them, tell us they have slender, brown stems, and flowers 
with brownish-green calyx outside and pinkish- white within, the outer petals suf- 
fused with pink, or sometimes with bright pink-red flowers. But as this variety is 
so indefinitely marked, we will pass to the next variety, which is almost as indefinite 
as the last, but has received the name of 
NYMPH YE A ODOEATA. Variety Minor. Sims. 
This is also a rare variety, and may be said to be only a dwarf or stunted variety, 
growing in shallow water and in cold bogs or sandy soil. The flowers are white, and 
two or three inches in diameter, with leaves from two to five inches broad. 
NYMPH YE A TUBEEOSA. Paine. 
Very similar to N. odorata in general appearance. The leaves reniform-orbicular, 
about one foot broad, and very prominently ribbed ; flowers from 4j to 9 inches in 
diameter ; petals broad and blunt, pure white, never pinkish; scentless, or with a 
faint odor of apples; rootstock bearing tubers often compound, which spontaneously 
detach themselves. 
The foreign species are not in cultivation in the United States to our knowledge, 
but by reference to botanies we find 
NYMPlIvEA CYEEULEA, 
The Blue Lotus of the Nile, has large fragrant, sky-blue flowers; leaves floating, 
crenate; lobes partly united and becoming peltate. 
NYMPHO A LOTUS, 
Has large white flowers, tinted with pink; sepals red at the margins; leaves strongly 
toothed, and on the under-side prominently veined; grow in the slow-running 
streams and rice fields of Egypt. 
NYMPIEEA E DU LIS, 
Has white flowers, and contains an abundance of starch in its roots, and is a valuable 
article of diet in India. But some of the best authorities think N. edulis, dentata, 
rubra, and many others, are only modified forms of Nymphcea Lotus. 
All the Nymphceas are peculiar in their mode of ripening their seed under water; 
also, in their power of folding their petals at night and sinking below the surface 
of the water during night, emerging and expanding again with the sunlight. Several 
varieties also produce small bulbs that detach themselves and form new plants. Some 
varieties bloom only at night, and close at the approach of sunlight. The leaf-stock, 
flower-stock and rootstocks are permeated their entire length with air canals; how- 
ever, some varieties are less distinct than others. They are all of easy culture, and 
the hardy varieties can be grown in tubs and tanks very successfully. The stove 
species should be grown in a warm place, in rich loamy soil. They all increase either 
by seed or dividing the roots or tubers. 
