The Gardeners' Chronicle May 24, 1856 NYMPHÆAS

N. 'Daubenyana'

There are at present in the stove tank at the Oxford Botanical gardens some Nymphæas, which, if they do not contribute to the unraveling of the complicated synonomy of the genus to which they belong, at least add another instance of the great powers of variation possessed by these beautiful plants. For the last five years, a plant in all respects like that figured in the "Botanical Magazine," tab. 4535, under the name of Nymphæa micrantha, has been cultivated here by Mr. Baxter. That most successful cultivator has drawn my attention to what he thinks a variety of that plant or possibly a hybrid. It is three or four times larger than the N. micrantha of gardens. The sepals are marked on the outside with small linear blackish spots, the petals are of a pale blue color, and the flowers have the same scent as N. cœrulea. In form, in the remarkable bulbiferous character of the leaves, and in all other respects there appears to be little or no difference between it and the so-called N. micrantha. For purposes of cultivation the large scented blue form will, doubtless, be preferred, and it is equally readily propagated by its bulbills.

During the last year, too, we received from Mr. Moore, of Glasnevin, a Nymphæa sent to him by Dr. Lehmann, of Hamburgh, under the name of N. Guineensis. This is undoubtedly the same as the plant cultivated here and elsewhere, and figured in the "Botanical Magazine" as N. micrantha. I mention this, as Lehmann himself refers the N. micrantha of the "Botanical Magazine" to N. vivipara, Lehm., the description of which latter corresponds in many respects with that of the large blue of the so-called N. micrantha before mentioned. Dr. Planchon, in his"Etudes sur les Nymphéacéas," refers the N. micrantha of the "Botanical Magazine" to N. Guineensis of Schumacher; the original N. micrantha of Guillemin and Perrottet is supposed by him to be a form of N. cœrulea, and is not, so far as I know, in cultivation.

From the same source also we have received a Nymphæa called by Dr. Lehmann N. pœcila. With us this plant is perfectly undistinguishable from that form of N. cœrulea known in cultivation as N. cynea. Perhaps it may be as well to remark that the plant often grown in this country as N. cynea, is the true blue Water Lily of the Nile, as an inspection of specimens in the herbarium, as well as of the figures in Delile's Egypt and Ventenat's Jardin de la Malmaison shows. The South African N. scutifolia is also generally cultivated under the name of N. cœrulea, from which it differs in the absence of purple spots on the under side of the leaves, and on the sepals; in the obtuse form of the latter, which are also somewhat "hooded" at the points, and in the elliptic form of the unexpanded flower bud, &c. In the true N. cœrulea the acute sepals are flat at the apex, not blotched, and the flower bud is pyramidal and acutely pointed.

Dr. Hooker, in his recently published and invaluable "Flora Indica," p. 240, cites Professor Henalow as failing to find any character whereby to distinguish Nymphæa alba from N. odorata, when growing together in the same pond. There is, however, a difference in the number and arrangement of intercellular canals. In N. odorata there are four large central canals, surrounded by a few of very much smaller calibre. The same arrangement exists in N. odorata minor, and in N. pygmaea. In N. alba there are also four central canals, but these are surrounded by a great number of tubes of nearly the same size as the central ones. The other species of Nymphæa that I have examined differ, not only in the arrangement of the canals, but also in the fact that there is a different disposition of the tubes in the leaf and flower stalks, instead of the arrangement being the same in both ergaos as in the species referred to. Maxwell Masters.

N. micrantha Craig Presnell Photo

Today's Nomenclature N. micrantha = N. micrantha N. cœrulea = N. caerulea N. Guineensis = N. guineensis N. vivipara = N. micrantha N. pœcila = N. caerulea N. cynea = N. nouchali N. scutifolia = N. capensis