Nymphæaceæ

Nymphæaceæ, a natural order of exogenous plants, growing in lakes, ponds, ditches, and slow rivers, where their fleshy root-stocks are prostrate in the mud at the bottom; and their large, long-stalked, heart-shaped, or peltate leaves float on the surface of the water. Their flowers also either float or are raised on their stalks a little above the water. The flowers are large, and often very beautiful and fragrant. There are usually four sepals, and numerous petals and stamens, often passing gradually into one another. The ovary is many-celled, with radiating stigmas, and very numerous ovules, and is more or less surrounded by a large fleshy disc. The seeds have a farinaceous albumen. More than fifty species are known, mostly natives of warm and temperate regions. The root-stocks of some of them are used as food, and the seeds of many. See WATER-LILY, LOTUS, VICTORIA, and EURYALE.—Very nearly allied to Nymphæaceæ are Nelumbiaceæ. See NELUMBO.