November 25. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
13.5 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M W 
NOV. 25—DEC. 1, 1852. 
Weather near London in 1851. 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon's 
Clock 
Day of 
U ! D 
Barometer. Thermo. 
Wind. Rain in In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R. &S. 
Age. 
aft. Sun. 
Year. 
25 Th 
Micliaelmas Term ends. 
29.492;—29.469' 46—23 
S.W. ' — 
38 a. 7 
57 a. 3 
5 49 
11 
1 12 
41 
330 
26 F 
Oak leafless. 
29.738 — 29.599 36—28 
N.W. — 
.39 
56 
rises. 
© 
' 12 
22 
331 
2 " S 
Greenfinches flock. 
29.899 — 29.7881 42—26 
N W. — 
41 
55 
4 a 37 
16 
; 12 
2 
332 
28 Son 
Advent Sunday. 
30.07.3 — 29.990 44—21 
N.W. — 
42 
55 
5 13 
17 
. 11 
41 
333 
29 M 
Song Thrush again sings. 
30.1/0 -30.1531 39—22 
S.W. , — 
44 
54 
5 59 
13 
11 
20 
334 
30 Tu 
St. Andrew, 
30.247 — 30.162 39-20 
N.E. — 
45 
63 
6 56 
19 
10 
58 
335 
1 W 
Gray Plover goes. 
30.257—30.245 39—32 
w. — 
46 
53 
3 1 
20 
10 
36 
330 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations durinir the last twenty-five years, the average highest and lowest tempera¬ 
tures of these days are 47.1“ and 35.“5 respectively. The greatest heat, 60“, occurred on the 38th in 1828 ; and the lowest cold, 16°, on the 29th 
in 1846, During the period 85 days were fine, and on 90 rain fell. 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
WATEB-LILIES.-r-NYMPHiEACE-E. 
{Continued from page 95.) 
NUPHAE. YELI.OW tVATER-LIIA'. 
Generic Character. — Calyx below the seed-vessel, of 
five or six large, leathery, concave, coloured, permanent 
leaves. Petals numerous, oblong, much smaller than the 
calyx; fui'rowed and honey-bearing at the back; proceeding, 
like the stamens, from the receptacle. Stamens very 
numerous, unconnected with the germen, line-shaped, bent 
back. Anthers line-shaped, of two parallel cells, closely 
attached to the inner surface of the upper part of each fila¬ 
ment. Germen nearly stalkless, egg-shaped, with an elon¬ 
gation at the summit. Style none. Stigma stalkless, 
orbicular, convex, entire or notched, with many central 
radiating clefts. Berry leathery, .smooth, iiointed-egg- 
shaped, of as many cells as there are rays, finally pulpy 
within. Seeds numerous, smooth, egg-shaped, in several 
rows in each cell. 
Nuphar lutea: Common Yellow Water-lily; Water-can; 
Brandy-bottle. 
Description. —It is a perennial. Leaves slightly egg- 
shaped, but nearly round, ten or twelve inches in diameter, 
tloating nearly flat upon the water's surface, the edge only 
being slightly raised as if to keep the water from the upper 
surface, and the lobes at the stalk lapping over each other, 
tough, pliant, nerves or veins much raised beneath, upper 
surface bright green, but under surface paler; leaf-stalks 
smooth, three-sided, and then’ length depending on the 
depth of the water. Dr. Martyn had them 5J feet long. 
Flowers an inch and-half in diameter, smelling like wine or 
brandy, which, connected with the shape of the seed-vessel, 
has given occasion for one of its popular names. Calyx 
larger than the corolla, its sepals being almost an inch in 
diameter, roundish, erect, (piite entire, slightly waved, 
smooth, tough, yellow, except at the base outside, where 
they are green. Petals fleshy, golden yellow, half-an-inch 
long, notched and grooved, from ten to twenty in number. 
Stamens very numerous, amounting from 100 to 105, press¬ 
ing closely on the germ when the flower first opens, but 
falling back after shedding their pollen ; filaments yellowish, 
thicker than the antliers, which are yellow, and two lines in 
length. Germen egg-shaped, blunt, smooth, terminated by 
a small roundish hollow. Style scarcely any, with a stigma 
yellow, unequally and sliglitly notched, rather convex, but 
depressed in the centre, and with eleven or twelve rays. 
Seed-vessel bottle-shaped, smooth, divided into twelve or 
more cells, and irregularly subdivided, so that each seed 
seems in its own cell. Seeds pointed egg-shaped, smooth, 
shining, and angularly-keeled. Flower-stalks nearly cylin¬ 
drical, long in proportion to the depth of the water, always 
elevating the. flower above its surface, but after impreg¬ 
nation bending down and ripening the seeds under water. 
Nuphar differs from Nympluca in having its petals and 
stamens inserted into a disk at the base of the germen. In 
Nympluea the disk adheres to the side of the germen. 
Sir J. E. Smith considers there is another species, which he 
describes as Nuphar pumiln, or Least Yellow Water-lily, but 
we think with WiUdenow and others, that it is sufficient to 
consider it only as a variety of N. lutea. Tliere is no other 
distinctive character that we know of, than that the flowers 
are smaller, the petals paler, and the lobes of the leaves do 
not over-lap each other. 
Places where found. —In slowly-flowing streams and pools; 
not uncommon. 
Time of /lowering. —July. 
Jlistnry.Sir J. E. Smith retained for this genus the 
name Nuphar, given it by Dioscorides, and which name the 
modern Greeks, who make a cordial of its brandy-perfumed 
flowers, after the example of their forefathers, have but 
little corrupted, though the Turks have perverted it into 
Pufar. Withering says that the roots bruised in milk 
destroy the crickets and cockroaches which partake of it. 
An infusion of a pound of the fresh root in a gallon of 
water, and a pint of it taken night' and morning, is said by 
the same autliority to have cured a leprous eruption on the 
arm. The root, leaves, and flowers, are also employed in 
tanning, so that it must contain much astringent matter, or 
tannin. Swine eat it; goats are not fond of it; and cows, 
sheep, and horses, according to Linnaius, refuse it. He 
also states that it drives away crickets from a house by its 
smoke when bm’nt. {Smith. Martyn. Withering. Baxter.) 
Tx has been lately prominently and repeatedly stated in 
the columns of one of our older contemporaries, that 
“ plants will, under certain circumstances, grow in the 
absence of leares.” If our contemporary merely in¬ 
tended that plants will emit fibrous roots, or that 
deciduous species will put forth leaves and even flowers 
whilst divested of foliage, he would not have given such 
prominence to his remarks, for these are phenomena 
which we see every year among our newly-moved plants 
and upon our fruit walls. 
It is, therefore, intended to be announced as an im¬ 
portant discovery that plants which usually perform 
their growing processes and increase their solid matters 
by the aid of their leaves, may, “ under certain circum¬ 
stances,” be made to increase that solid matter without 
leaves. One inference intended to be drawn from this 
No. CCXVIL, VoL. IX. 
