Excerpt from The Waterlilies: A Monograph of the Genus Nymphaea

This work is the outcome of four years' study on the Harrison Foundation in the University of Pennsylvania. It would have been difficult or impossible without the generous support given by the Provost and the Board of Trustees. In the University Botanic Garden over thirty species and varieties of waterlily were cultivated, and several hybrids originated. These and other collections Of living plants furnished excellent material for the present review of the group.

Nothing like a complete synopsis of the Waterlilies has hitherto been put before the English-speaking world. Decandolle made a special study of the genus Nymphaea for his Prodromus, and both Lehmann and Planchon gave much attention to the genus from 1850 to 1853. Beginning in 1855 and continuing until 1888, a number of exhaustive treatises by Robert Caspary went far toward perfecting our knowledge Of these plants. Indeed, had the learned doctor of Ko'nigsberg assembled his vast knowledge into one connected whole, the present work would be needed chiefly as a translation. Since his day, however, great strides have been made in the culture and hybridization of water lilies, with the result that they now appear in almost every collection of plants. Already by crossing and recrossing and the use of horti cultural names, serious confusion exists concerning the identities of the parent species. It has therefore seemed important to bring together the knowledge of the genus in all of its botanical relations and in its bearings on human life and history. In the present attempt there may be many omissions, in spite of the utmost efforts in collating the material, but the paper may serve to show how incomplete is our knowledge of any one group of plants, and it is hoped that it may make the way of the future investigator easier.

In the adoption of the generic name Nymphaea, the writer regrets that he is at variance with a number of American botanists for whom he has the utmost respect; but a glance at the synonymy of Nymphaea.

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