Feb., 1904.] 
Nymphaeaceae and Helobiae. 
83 
SOME MORPHOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES OF THE 
NYMPHAEACEAE AND HELOBIAE.* 
JOHX H. SCH.-VFFNER. 
Having spent some time in studies upon various species belong- 
ing to the Helobiae, the writer has naturalh' taken considerable 
interest in the recent investigations bj- Lyon, Cook and others 
on the embryogeny of the Nymphaeaceae. On account of cer- 
tain peculiarities in the anatomical structure of these plants, 
the writer following many others had reservedly placed the 
Nymphaeaceae near the Helobiae ; but, because of the supposed 
characteristic Dicotyl embryo and certain Dicotyl features which 
were read into the flowers, it was thought improper to take them 
away from their “authoritative” position. However, since the 
waj^ has been considerably cleared b\- L3'on and Cook, at least so 
far as the embryo is concerned, for judging certain other charac- 
ters of the group on their merits, a considerable study has been 
carried on for the last three years upon various species of the 
group. 
It might perhaps be proper to state here that the writer had 
the pleasure of examining most of Cook’s preparations on wdiich 
his more important conclusions were based ; even going so far as 
to reconstruct the earl}- stages of the embryo which showed that 
in Nymphaea advena the development of the so-called cotj'ledon 
is essentiallj" the same as what Lyon had reported for Nelumbo. 
It is unfortunate that Coulter and Chamberlain in their “Mor- 
phology’ of Angiosperms” overlooked the reference to Cook’s 
embryo of Nymphaea advena. For the fact that the embryo of 
Nymphaea has such a close resemblance to Nelumbo must have a 
very’ important bearing on the subject. 
As is well known, tlie vascular bundles of the Nymphaeaceae 
are essentially Monocotyl in type, showing the characteristic 
closed bundle. So striking is this in the bundles of the flower 
stem of Nelumbo that one might almost palm off a section for a 
corn bundle. The disposition of the xylem and vessels, the 
phloem, and the cap of sclerenchyma, taken together with the 
scattered arrangement and the absence of secondary’ cambium 
certainly represent a structure characteristic of Monocotyls (Fig. 
I ). The vascular bundles of Podophvllum and certain species of 
Piperaceae which the writer examined are considerably’ different 
and show the open type of bundle characteristic of Dicotyls. 
These plants have therefore no important bearing on the relation- 
ship of the Nymphaeaceae so far as the anatomy of the stem is 
concerned. 
The many’ superficial characters must also be taken into con- 
sideration. The similarity of habitat, the rhizome habit, the 
■ Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory of Ohio State University, XVI. 
