N y M P H J£ A. 
NYMPHiE'A, f. [fo called, with much tafte, in allu- 
fion to the nj'mphs, fuppofed to inhabit the pure and 
limpid waters in which it grows ; nor was it an unworthy 
emblem of the elegance and delicacy attributed to thole 
imaginary beings.] In botany, a genus of the clafs po- 
lyandria, order monogynia, natural order of lucculentte, 
(hydrocharides, JuJf.) Generic charadbers—Calyx: peri- 
anthium inferior, four, five, or fix, leaved ; large, co¬ 
loured above, permanent. Corolla: petals numerous, 
(often fifteen,) placed on the fide of the germen, in more 
than one row. Stamina: filaments numerous, (often fe- 
venty,) flat, curved, blunt, Ihort; an therm oblong, faf- 
tened to the margin of the filaments. Piftillum : germen 
ovate, large; ftyle none ; ftigma orbiculate, flat, peltate- 
feffile, rayed, crenate at the edge, permanent. Pericar- 
pium : berry hard, ovate, flefliy, rude, narrowed at the 
neck, crowned at the top, many-celled, (cells from ten 
to fifteen,) full of pulp. Seeds : very many, roundilh.—- 
Effential Character. Calyx four, five, or fix, leaved ; co¬ 
rolla many-petalied ; berry many-celled, truncated. 
1. Nymphaea advena, or three-coloured water-lily: 
leaves cordate, quite entire ; lobes divaricate ; calyx fix¬ 
leaved, longer than the petals. Petioles half-round, com¬ 
monly eredted above the water. Leaves corda-te-oblong, 
more narrowed towards the top than in N. lutea. Native 
of North America. Introduced in 1772, by Mr. William 
Young. It flowers in July. 
2. Nymph sea longifolia, or long-leaved water-lily : ca¬ 
lyx of fix leaves in two rows; ftigma undulated; leaves 
oblong, wavy, arrow-fhaped; with abrupt approximated 
lobes at the bafe. Native of North and South Carolina, 
according to Michaux, whofe defcription, however, ac¬ 
cords but ill with a fpecimen communicated to Dr. Del-ile 
from that country, by which the leaves do not appear to 
be obtufe, neither are the petals wanting, nor the antherae 
nearly feffile. The leaf is near a foot and a half long, and 
from three to four inches broad, wavy at the edge ; its 
termination, though injured, appears evidently to have 
been acute; the bale is extended' into two frnall lobes, 
one inch and a half long, folding over each other, ob¬ 
long, angular, and obtule. Flower nearly the fize of the 
laft ; three outer leaves of the calyx green, elliptical ; 
three inner much larger, rounder, almoft entirely yellow. 
3. Nymphaea lut.ea, the common yellow water-lily: 
leaves cordate entire, lobes approximating; calyx five¬ 
leaved, longer than the petals. The leaves of the com¬ 
mon yellow water-lily are fmooth, plane, except that they 
turn up a little at the edge to keep oft'the water, tough 
and pliant, ten or twelve inches in diameter, floating, 
ovate or nearly orbicular, bright-green above, paler un¬ 
derneath, with branched railed nerves or veins. Petioles 
fmooth, three-fided, their length depending on the depth 
of water: fometimes five feet and a half in length. The 
cafe is the fame with the peduncle, which always elevates 
the flower above the water; but, after it is impregnated, 
the feeds are ripened under water, and fall into the mud 
at bottom to produce new plants. Flowers an inch and 
a half in diameter, having a vinous fmell. Calyx larger 
than the corolla : leaflets roundifii, blunt, ereft, quite en¬ 
tire, fubfinuate, fmooth, tough, yellow, except at the bafe 
on the outfide, where they are green, inlerted into the 
bafe of the germ, regular, alinoft an inch in length and 
breadth. Petals flefhy, yellow, about half an inch in 
length and five lines in breadth, notched and grooved, 
from ten to twenty in number. The fruit is fhaped like 
a bottle, or ovate-conical, very fmooth, crowned with 
the ftigma, which is grooved, quite entire, and peltate : 
within it is divided into from twelve to fifteen cells ; which 
are irregular, fubdivided by partial partitions, fo that 
each feed has as it were its own cell. Seeds fewer than 
in N. alba, but twice as large, ovate acuminate, yellowfifh, 
very fmooth and Aiming, keeled with an angle. 
Linnseus tells us that fwineare fond both of the leaves 
and root; that goats are not fond of it; and that kine, 
fheep, and horles, refufe it: alfo that crickets are driven 
out of houfes by the finoke in burning it, and that both 
they and cock-roaches are deltroyed by the roots rubbed 
or bruifed with milk. Ray obferves, that the flowers 
fmell like brandy. Dr. Withering informs us, that an 
infufion of a pound of the frefii root in a gallon of water, 
taken in the dofe of a pint night and morning, cured a 
leprous eruption of the arm. Yellow water-lily is a na¬ 
tive of moft parts of Europe, in flow rivers, pools, and 
ditches ; flowering in July and Auguft. Kalm obferved 
the fame fpecies in Canada, with a flower fcarcely fo big 
as that of Caltha paluftris. 
4. Nymphsea minima, or ler.ft water-lily: calyx of five 
leaves ; ftigma toothed ; footftalks two-edged, nearly flat 5 
lobes of the leaves rather diftant. Difcovered by Mr. W. 
Borrer, in the lake of the Highland Mountain of Ben 
Cruachan. Profeffor Willdenow informs us it has been 
obferved in the duchy of Mecklenburgh, as well as in 
Pruffia and Bohemia. This is moft indubitably adiflinfb 
fpecies from the laft, differing npt only in its much fmal- 
ler fize, the flower not being above half fo big, but more 
effentially in its deeply-toothed green-bordered ftigma, 
and compreffed footftalks. The leaves are fomewhat 
filky beneath, and their lobes rather diftant or diva¬ 
ricated. 
5. Nymphaea Kalmiana, or Canadian water-lily: ca¬ 
lyx of five leaves; ftigma toothed ; footftalks l'emicylia- 
drical; lobes of the leaves rather diftant; their veins 
furrowed beneath. Kalm and Michaux have obferved 
this in Canada : Meffrs. Loddiges introduced it here in 
1807. This fpecies flowers from June to Auguft. It is 
a-kin to the laft in fize ; but the leaves are more rounded 
and obtufe, their ftalks not flattened, their veins fur¬ 
rowed beneath and fomewhat prominent above. Flow'ers 
of a golden yellow, with a purplifn, not green-bordered, 
ftigma, fimilarly toothed at the edge. Mr. Anderfon re¬ 
marks, (lee Curt. Mag.) that this, as well as the lutea, 
“ befides the leaves which float upon the water, bears 
others which never appear above its furface ; thefe are 
tenderer, more undulated, and ftiorter, with lobes very 
much divaricated, and hence approaching to kidney- 
fhaped.” 
6. Nymphaea alba, or white water-lily : leaves cordate 
quite entire, lobes imbricate rounded; calyx four-leaved. 
Root tuberous, frequently the fize of the human arm, 
creeping far and wide, and deep in mud. The whole 
plant is larger in all its parts than the lutea. The leaves 
are much’the fame, only larger. Flowers large, being 
fometimes fix inches in diameter, very handfome, and 
double ; petals white, from fixteen to twenty or twenty- 
four in number, in two or three row's, wider than the 
leaves of the calyx, and more ovate ; the outer ones have 
a green ftreak along the back, and approach more to the 
nature of the calyx ; as the inner ones, which are gra¬ 
dually fmaller, do to the ftamens. Seeds very numerous, 
oblong-fpheroidal, fmooth, Alining, having a very blunt 
angle on one fide, yellowifti-green or livid, neftling in 
the pulp, without any certain lituation or order. Albu¬ 
men both in this and the preceding of the fame fliape with 
the feed, farinaceous, very white, friable* with an open 
hole at the bafe. 
According to Linnaeus, the flower raifes itfelf out of 
the w'ater and expands about feven o’clock in the morning, 
and clofes again, repoiing upon the furface, about four 
in the evening. The roots have an aftringent bitter tafte ; 
they are ufed in Ireland, in the highlands of Scotland, 
in the ifland of Jura, &c. to dye a dark-brown or chefnut 
colour. Swine are faid to eat it, goats not to be fond of 
it, kine and horfes to refufe it. The flow'ers, the herb, 
and the root, were formerly ufed in medicine; but are all 
now obfolete. White water-lily or water-rofe, is native 
of moft parts of Europe, in flow' ftreams, pools, and 
ditches ; flowering in July and Auguft. 
7. Nymphaea odorata, or fweet-fmelling water-lily: 
leaves cordate entire emarginate, lobes divaricating with 
an obtufe point; calyx four-leaved. This is altogether 
different 
