Szekessy Vilmos (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 59. (Budapest 1967)
Radics, F.: A revision of the Nymphaea material in Hungarian Natural History Museum
quently finely granulated exine of the pollen emphasize also the tetragona-traits so much that, with respect to these morphological characters, though of different values, this plant might also be defined as N. alba x Candida X tetragona f. intermedia (Plate II, Figs. 10-11). In the study of our herbarial waterlily specimens, the most striking experience was the recognition, aside of their hybrid origin, of the tetragona-traits. The cause must certainly be searched for in geological changes, but the earlier presence of N. tetragona in the Carpathian Basin has indirect proofs also in our days. There is a Nymphaea specimen in our collection (No. 58116, Fig. II), externally of an almost completely tetragona appearance. Its label bears the following data: "Castalia alba (L.) WOOD f. minoriflora (BORB.) SIMK., in palude Talyba, ad Szomotor (Com. Zemplén), 1. MARGITTAI, 1933". The characteristics of Nymphaea tetragona GEORGI are evident at the first glance : the flower of our plant is 3—4 cm in diameter, the quadrangular receptacle is considerably wider than the peduncle, the leaves and some of the staminal filaments are oval, the lamellar sinus is wide, the astomatic area of the primaries is small and the pollen grains tetragonal (Plate II, Figs. 12—13). On the other hand, the graded disattachment of the petals from the stamens, the greater number of more prominent primary veins, the thicker petioles, and especially the form of the pollen testify on the presence of also albida and Candida ancestors. The pollen was compared to that of an original Chinese specimen. For purely practical purposes, this plant might be named N. alba x Candida X tetragona f. svbtetragona. It is also a good example that in the Nymphaea hybrids of our country the tetragona-fnatures also surely occurs. Summary Summarizing the results of our studies, it can be stated that there has not been found a single Nymphaea Candida PRESL specimen among approximately one hundred waterlily exemplars, collected in the Carpathian Basin over a century and deposited in the Herbarium of the Botanical Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum. Those which had been described as such, or any one of its varieties, differ in essential morphological characters from Nymphaea Candida PRESL ; nor can they be drawn under our generally accepted view of Nymphaea alba (L.) PRESL. On the basis of their taxonomically important features, the Nymphaea exemplars, originating from the Carpathian Basin and published in our home literature, proved to be of a hybrid character. This explains a number of uncertainties, and the cause of the contradictory statements, of the respective descriptions. In our opinion, they are hybrid in origin, and since they appear to be fertile (good pollen, mature seeds), and the parent species lacking from Hungary, the causes and circumstances of their origin had not been determined by the present phytogeographical conditions. This hypothesis shows the direction of further researches, to be completed in the future by modern cytological and genetical investigations conducted on live material of our Nymphaea populations and on freshly collected plants. References: 1. Soó, R. & JÁVOBKA, S.: A magyar növényvilág kézikönyve I. (Budapest, 1951. p. 229). — 2. CASPARY, R.: De Nymphaeae albae varietatibus (In Catal. sem. hort. Berol., 1855; Flora, 1856, p. 488-496). - 3. CASPARY, R. : Schrift, der K. Physik.-en Ökonomischen Gesellschaft Königsberg, XI. Jahrg. (1871, p. 62). — 4. GRAEBNER, P.:
