



1488 



LOTUS* arena 



arenanus. 



Sand Lotus. 



DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. 



Nat. ord. Leguminosje Juss. {Introduction to the natural system of 



Botany, p. 87.) 



LOTUS L. — Calyx tubulosus, 5-fidus; alee vexillum subaequantes ; 

 carina rostrata. Legumen cylindraceum, v. compression, apterum ; stylus 

 rectus ; stigma oculo nudo subulatum. Herbse. Folia palmatim 3-folio- 



lata. Stipulae f 



-flori, folio fi 



De Cand. prodr. 2. 209. 



.L. arenarius ; caulibus procumbentibus ramosis pubescentibus, ramis pe- 

 dunculisque erectiusculis, foliolis acutiusculis cuneatis, stipulis ovatis, 

 capitulis 5-10-floris, bracteis sublanceolatis calyce minoribus, calycibus 

 subbilabiatis, dentibus duobus superioribus longioribus, leguminibus 

 teretibus glabris. D. C. /. c. 

 L. arenarius. Broterofl. lusitan. 2. p. 120. 



Herba annua, pubescens, caulibus prostratis, teretibus, pallide viridibus ; 

 ramuli pedunculique ascendentes. Foliola incana, cuneato-obovata, sessilia, 

 petiolo communi stipulis cordato-ovatis foliolis minoribus (Bquali. Capituli 

 subsexflori, basi folio minore sessili exstipulato stipati. Calyx pallida luteo- 

 viridis, tubo laciniis paulb longiore. Flores lutei y vexillo basi limbi striis 5 

 minutis penkillato. 



A name which has been more variously applied, and of which per- 

 haps more has been written, than of any other plant. Those who have 

 sought for its origin in the Greek language have found nothing nearer than 

 a*, to will, or desire; alluding, as they suppose, to the plant being greatly 

 esteemed. Others have thought, with more probability, that \*nos of the 

 Greeks, and Lotus of the Latins, had one common Egyptian origin, its ety- 

 mology being therefore, of course, inscrutable to us. All that can be said of 

 the application of this name, at various times and in various languages, is, 

 that it has always been used for some plant eminently useful as food for man 

 or beast. Thus it has been appropriated to the wet/nog, or sacred bean of 

 India, and to its Egyptian substitute, the Nymphaea; to some African fruit 

 on which certain people have chiefly depended for support; and to several 

 herbaceous plants essential to the maintenance of domestic cattle in countries 

 sparingly furnished with grass. In this last sense it is finally retained as a 

 generic appellation by modern Botanists. — Smith in Rees's Cyclop. 



