Propagation, Culture, And Winter Care

Best time to propagate

>Propagation by Runner

Propagating the Tropicals

Viviparous reproduction

Chain Propagation From Tubers

Wintering the Tropicals

There is only one species of hardy water-lily, to my knowledge, that reproduces in any way other than by root division or seed. This is Nymphaea mexicana, which sends long, slender runners out through the mud from its rootstock. The runners terminate in new plants, which take root, develop, and then send out runners of their own. If this species is not watched, it can make a spreading nuisance of itself.

You have Undoubtedly heard of people "going to pieces" under nervous strain, and there may have been times when you felt like it yourself. But you will never see any living thing go to pieces in a more complete and literal fashion than various species and varieties of hardy water-lilies when afflicted by a strange ma1formation called fasciation.

The sight is most alarming. If it occurs while you have been away for a weekend, you will come back to plants that look as if a giant had taken a club and smashed the leaves into a thousand pieces, but each piece will be a perfect miniature leaf an inch or two wide. One waterlily plant will cover the whole end of a pool with these tiny leaves. There will be no blooms, large or small.

Nobody seems to know what causes fasciation. We know only that it happens to some water-lilies when they get old, after they have bloomed normally and well for a number of years. And we know that some species and varieties are more prone to it than others, as Nymphaea Ellisiana, Marliacea carnea and chromatella, gloriosa, and N. pygmaea alba, alba rubra, and helvola.

The main root of an affected plant will be useless thereafter, so there is nothing to do but pull it out. It will be difficult to examine the root closely, for it wi11 be covered with a tight and twisted mass of small leaves and stems. By removing some of the leaves, however, you probably ,will be able to find a few normal growing points. These can be cut off and planted as rootstocks. They will grow normally and not revert to fasciation, at least not for several years.

Don't Worry about other water-lilies in the pool. We do not know much about fasciation, but we do know that it is not catching.

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