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Nymphaea (From nymphe a water-nymph)

(from nymphe, a water-nymph; in reference to the habitation of the plants). Water Lily. SYN. Castalia. ORD. Nymphaeaceae. A rather large genus (about a score species) of handsome stove, greenhouse, or hardy aquatics, with a fleshy or tuberous root-stock. They are mostly distributed over the Northern hemisphere or the tropical regions, a few being found in South Africa or Australia. Flowers white, blue, or red, showy, solitary; sepals four, girding the base of the torus; petals numerous, adnate to the torus. Leaves large, profoundly cordate, or peltate, floating. The cultivation of Water Lilies is by no means difficult. The hardy ones may be planted on hillocks of turfy loam, decomposed manure, and rough sand, so that the crown remains from 6in. to 12in. below the surface of the water. Where it is impracticable to make a billock, place the tubers in baskets of rich soil, and submerge these in the places where the plants are intended to grow. The stove species thrive in large pots, wherein a similar mixture of soil to the above should be used, but they require a house temperature of from 65deg. to 75deg., and the water heated to about the last-named figure; though several will succeed if kept much cooler. A full exposure to all the sun and light possible is recommended, supposing other plants grown in the house will bear it as well as the