November 11. 
THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 
95 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M W 
NOVEMBER 11 — 17, 18.'i2. 
Weather near London in 1851. 
Sun ^ 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Day of 
Year. 
D D 
1 
Barometer. Thermo.^Wind. Rain in In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R.&S. 
Age. 
aft. Sun. 
11 Th 
Bunting mute. 
30.120—30.005 49—30 
N. 
_ 
14 a. 7 
15 a. 4 
sets. 
@ 
15 
46 
316 
12 F 
Wood Pigeons flock. 
30.347 — 30.2.10 4(5—29 
N. 
02 
16 
13 
5 a 0 
I 
15 
38 
317 
13 S 
Green Whistling Plover seen. 
30.434 — 30.345 47—3(5 
S.W. 
— 
17 
12 
.5 38 
2 
15 
29 
318 
l4 Sdn 
2:i Sunday AFTER Trinity. 
30.289—30.100 44—25 
N. 
— 
10 
10 
6 28 
3 
15 
19 
319 
15 M 
Beech leafless. 
30.022 — 29,946 41 — 19 
W. 
— 
21 
9 
7 28 
4 
15 
9 
320 i 
16 Tn 
Teal arrive. 
29.845 — 29.815 42—26 
N. 
— 
23 
7 
8 37 
5 
14 
58 
321 
1/w 
Titmice near houses. 
29.821 — 29.701 35—27 
w. 
— 
24 
6 
9 49 
6 
14 
46 
322 1 
Meteorology of tbe Week.—A t Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-five years 
the average highest and lowest tempera- 
tures of these days are SO.1° and 35.6° respectively. The greatest heat, 63°, occurred on the l*2th in 1841 j and the lowest cold, 15°, 
in 1841. During the period 88 days were fine, and on 87 rain fell. 
on the 16 th 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
WATER LILIES.—NYMl’IIEACE-E. 
Characters oe the Order.— andprfrtA? numerous, 
overlapping each other like tiles, passing gradually into each 
other, the former not falling off, the latter inserted upon the 
disk which surrounds the pistil. Stamens numerous, in¬ 
serted above the petals into the disk ; jUamenls potal-like ; 
anthers joined their whole length to tlie filament, bursting 
inwards by a double longitudinal cleft. Disk large, fleshy, 
surrounding the pisfil either wholly or in part. Ovarium 
many-seeded, many-celled, with the stigmata radiating from 
a common centre upon a sort of flat pitcher-shaped cup. 
Fruit a many-celled capsule. Seeds very numerous, attached 
to spongy partitions of the seed-vessel, and enveloped in a 
jelly-lik-e covoi-ing. Albumen floury. Embryo small on the 
outside of the base of the albumen, enclosed in a mem¬ 
branous b.ag; cotyledons leaf-like. Herbs, with shield or 
heart-shaped fleshy leaves, growing in quiet waters. 
NV3IPH.EA.—WHITE WATER-LILY. 
Generic Cilaracter. — Calyx below seed-ve.ssels, of four j 
largo, leatliery, oblong, perm.anent leaves, coloured on tho i 
upper side. Petals numerous, oblong, placed in several 
rows upon the base of the germen. Nectary globose, in the ' 
centre of the stigma. Stamens very numerous, flat, placed 
on the germen above the petals ; the outermost gradually 
broadened. Anthers line like, of two parallel cells, closely 
attached, in their whole length, to the inner surface of tlic 
upper part of each filament. Germen stalkless, globose. 
Style none. Stiyma globe-like, stalkless, of numerous rays, 
pointed and separate at the extremity, permanent. Bei'-ry 
leathery, scarred, of as many cells as there are rays ; at 
length internally jelly-like and pulpy. Seeds numerous in 
each cell, roundish. Large, smooth, aquatic, perennial herbs. 
Stem none. Leaves floating, on long footstalks, heart- 
shaped or shield-shaped, entire or toothed. Flowers on 
long simple stalks, large, white, red, or blue, closing, and 
sinking more or less below the smTace of the water, at 
night. 
Nymph.ea alba: Great White Water-lily; AVater Rose; 
AVater Can ; Can Dock ; AVatersocks. 
Description .—It is a perennial. Moot tuberous, often as 
large as the human arm, putting forth numerous, widely- 
extending rootlets, with fibrous ends. Leaves floating on 
the surface of the water, about nine inches wide, oval- 
heart-shaped, the notch at the base deep, edge of tbe leaf 
umiotched, and raised above the water, smooth, veins on 
the under.side not prominent. Leaf-stalks and flower- 
stalks cylindrical, full of cells within. Flowers large, from 
four to six inches across. Petals white, from sixteen to 
twenty-four in number, iii two or three rows, wider than the 
sepals, or leaves of the calj'x, egg-shaped, outer ones with a 
green streak down the back, approaching in their structure 
more to that of the calyx, as the inner petals do to the 
structure of the stamens, becoming gradually smaller. 
Sepals smaller than the outer petals, being about two inches 
long, and one inch -wide, egg-shaped, blunt, spreading, 
streaked, but shining and smooth, yellowish-green on the 
outside, with a white edge, within-side white, sometimes 
tinged with red. Stamens usually about seventy in number, 
but sometimes more than eighty; filaments short, thick, 
broad-spear-head shaped, fast to the side of the germ, 
white, but inner ones yellow and bent inwards ; the outer re¬ 
sembling the inner petals. Germ roundish. Pistil without 
style, stigma divided into about sixteen rays, about ten lines 
in diameter, which bend back, each ray corresponding to a 
cell in the germ. Berry globe-shaped, warted with the 
remains of the filaments, about sixteen-celled, with a very 
large concave, grooved, scolloped-edged stigma like tbe 
Poppy; rind thin and leathery, jelly-like pulp in the cells, 
which dries up to a spongy substance. Seeds very numerous, 
flattened globe-shaped, with a blunt angle on one side, 
yellowish-green, smooth, and shining, buried irregularly in 
the pulp. 
Places where found. —In slowly-flowing rivers, and ponds 
never without water. 
Time of floweriny. —.Tuly. 
History .—The name of Nympluea is aptly applied to this 
beautiful genus of water-inhabiting flowers, as realizing the 
idea of the heathen poets, that the waters are tenanted by 
nymphs or spirits. The flowers aiise and open as tho sun 
attains power in the morning, but they close tow.ards the 
ev'ening, and either recline upon the surface, or sink within 
the water. 
Those virgin Lilies, all the night 
Bathing their beauties in the lake, 
That they may rise more fresh and bright, 
W'hen their beloved Sun’s awake. 
There is no doubt but that the flower rises out of the 
water during sunshine that the pollen may perform its fer¬ 
tilizing office; and the same providential wisdom has so 
arranged that the seed-vessel, as it ripens, becomes heavier 
than the water, and sinks to the bottom to deposit its seeds 
in the mud. Tho tuberous roots are employed to dye a 
ilai'k brown by the Irish and the inhabitants of the Isle of 
Jura. Swine eat it. Goats are not fond of it, and oxen as 
well as horses reject it. Aphis aquatiUs, and Leptura 
aqnatiea live upon it. Its use in medicine is now abandoned. 
{Smith. Marlyn. Lindley. Witheriny.) 
No. COXA"., A^ol. IX. 
