NYMPH^'A PYGM/E'A. 
PYGMY WATER LILY. 
Class. Order. 
POLYANDHIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
NYMPH^ACE^. 
Native of Habit. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
C. G. Hope.] Floating;-. 
May, Sept. 
Perennial. 
in 1805. 
No. 643. 
The generic name, Nymphsea, has been continued 
from the Greek nymphaia of Theophrastus and 
Dioscorides, a name given to Nympheea alba, or 
common white water lily. It was,” says Sir J. E. 
Smith, so called, with much taste, in allusion to 
the nymphs supposed to inhabit those pure and 
limpid waters where it grows ; nor was it an un- 
worthy emblem of the elegance and delicacy attri- 
buted to those imaginary beings.” 
Aquatic plants deserve to meet more of the flo- 
rist’s attention than has been bestowed on them. 
There is scarcely a garden but may have its little 
pond, either natural or artificial ; and with the aid 
of this, in addition to the convenience it affords by 
its continual supply of water where so much is re- 
quired, many aquatic and marsh plants may be 
successfully cultivated. 
The roots of the Nymphaea pygmaea may be 
planted in the mud of a pond, where the water 
is regularly about a foot deep, or it may be kept 
in a pot of loam, and the pot immersed a little 
beneath the surface of the water. In winter its depth 
in water should be a security against frost. 
Don’s Syst. Bot. 1, 126. 
