BOTANICAL INDEX 
5 
NUPHAR. Sibthorp. 
0 rd e r — Nymphcpucecp . 
Type — Nuphar ( Nymphcza ) lutea. 
Etymology- 
-From Neufar , the Arabic 
for the Water Lily. 
Egyptian) nar 
[Jfourtb ^apcr.] 
J(j^ERY few people ever realize the close rela- 
tionship that actually exists in some of the 
families, genera or species of plants, until 
they have studied the results of the investi- 
gations of scientific botanists; for in the 
vegetable as well as the animal kingdom, 
we often find forms apparently occupying 
almost the opposite extremes, which, upon investiga- 
tion, prove to be so closely allied that they must be placed in 
the same family, and often in the same genera. This is par- 
ticularly the case with the Nuphar and Nymph-tea , two of our 
commonest native aquatic plants, that are probably familiar to 
all our readers. In the Nymph tv a, which we had for a su 
ject in the October (1878) number of the Index, we find a plant 
producing one of the most beautiful and perfect of flowers; 
but in the Nuphar the flower is neither showy nor perfect’ 
being yellow — but even this color is nearly hid by the three 
outside green sepals, which rarely open enough to show the 
color of the flower. The petals or leaves that form the flower, 
in the Nuphar are undeveloped and do not reach to the top of 
theseed-pod, while the large, expanding petals of the Nymphcm 
are often three inches long, and nearly an inch broad. When 
