THE WHITE WATER LILY OF CLEAR LAKE, IOWA. 
HENRY S. CONARD. 
Opportunity was made last summer (1916) for examining 
the Avater lilies (Nymphaea) growing in the west end of Clear 
Lake, near Ventura, Iowa. An attempt was made to study the 
specific characteristics as outlined before this Academy a year 
ago, 1 and* to seek for correlation of characters. The results are 
tabulated below. 
The day of my observations was partly cloudy and cool in 
the morning, clear and warm after midday. The earliest floAvers 
opened from 7 :30 to 8 a. m., all being open by 8 :30. The earliest 
closure (first day flowers) was at 3 p. m. ; many flowers Avere 
scarcely beginning to close at that hour, when I had to close 
my observations. The floAA-ers were all sweet scented, though 
not so richly as those of N. odorata of New Jersey and eastern 
Pennsylvania, There was, hoAvever, considerable difference in 
the richness of the odor of individual blossoms. The floAvers 
were of rather large size, the length of outermost petals rang- 
ing from 6.6 cm. to 7.7 cm. 
The peduncles were smooth or rarely villous, pure green, dull 
purplish green or strongly brown striped, and from 0.6 cm. to 
1.0 cm. in diameter. No fruits were found. 
The sepals were uniformly green on the outside, without purple 
coloring. Petals 29 to 39, mostly 31, spatula te to elliptic- 
lanceolate (See Table 1, and figure 88). Stamens 82 to 105, 
the innermost filaments more slender than their anthers (Table 
1 )., 
The leaves Avere usually pure green above and beloAv, but 
sometimes bright red-purple beneath, especially those in shallow 
water. The angle of the sinus lobes was short and obtuse or 
acuminate. The petioles were pure green, faintly striped, or 
very strongly brown striped, usually smooth but occasionally 
hairy. 
Rhizomes were collected up to a meter in length and 1.3 to 4.0 
cm. in diameter, finely pubescent, with few stoutly attached 
branches, or with many slenderly attached tubers, or both. 
iProc. Ia. Acad. Sci., Vol. 23, p. 621. Pub. 1917. 
29 
