A close botanical study of three white water lily blooms, most likely Nymphaea odorata, the American white water lily native to the eastern United States, fills this albumen carte-de-visite published by J.E. Tilton and Co., Manufacturers and Importers of Photograph Albums and Cartes de Visite, 161 Washington Street, Boston, dating to the mid-1860s. Tilton was a Boston publisher with a documented interest in botanical subjects, having published Wax Flowers: How to Make Them in 1864, Phantom Flowers: A Treatise on the Art of Producing Skeleton Leaves, and Tilton's Horticulture and Florist's Companion, making a botanical CDV series a natural extension of the firm's existing catalog.

One fully open bloom dominates the left center of the composition, its layered petals spreading outward from a dense central cluster, while two additional buds in varying stages of opening are positioned at upper right and lower right. The long dark stems cross at the lower frame in a device borrowed directly from botanical illustration tradition. The dark-tipped outer sepals on all three flowers provide strong tonal contrast against the pale petals and plain ground.

The reverse bears the black-printed circular imprint of J.E. Tilton and Co. with a central vignette of an ornate photograph album. A pencil notation reads "ZoR" at the lower right, and two crossed plant stems are affixed at the upper left.