Note 6 — SWEET SCENTED WATER LILY. Nymphæa Odorata.

In that singular plant, the Eel or Tapegrass, a plant indigenous to our slow flowing waters, the elastic flower-bearing stem uncoils to reach the surface of the water, drawn thither by some mysterious hidden attraction towards the pollen-bearing flowers, which are produced at the bottom of the water on very short scapes, and which, united by the same vegetable instinct, break away from the confining bonds that hold them and rise to the surface, where they expand and scatter their fertilizing dust upon the fruit-bearing flowers which float around them; these, after a while, coil up again and draw the pod-like ovary down to the bottom of the water, there to ripen and perfect the fruit; a curious fact vouched for by Gray and many other creditable botanists.