12 THE WATERLILIES. 



evening ; its flowers, however, are not white, but pale blue. We think, 

 however, that N. lotus is the one meant by Dioscorides, as its tubers are 

 larger than those of IV. caerulea, it fruits more freely, and the fruits when 

 ripening are devoid of all the floral envelopes except the bases of the outer 

 stamens, exposing a large poppy-like ovary. The fruit of N. caerulea is 

 surrounded by its four sepals and four alternating sepaloid petals, so that 

 its ovary, though equally poppy-like, remains hidden. The story of its 

 behavior at night is a traveler's tale, enlarged upon, as we shall see, by 

 Pliny, and copied many times afterward. Three other kinds of " lotus " 

 are given in Dioscorides : one is the tree of Herodotus' Lotophagi ; the 

 other two are leguminous plants near to or part of our present genus 

 Lotus. Nymphaea (wfupaia) appears in book in, chapter 138. He 

 says it grows in marshes and standing water ; has leaves like xtpwpcov 

 [Nelumbo], but smaller and more oblong, several from the same root, 

 some floating and some submerged ; flower white, like a lily (*/><Vov), 

 with a bulb (xfjoxtodst;) in the middle. " But when done blooming, there 

 comes a round black body of the shape of an apple or a poppy-head, 

 which contains copious, black, crowded seed, of a glutinous taste. Stem 

 smooth, slender, black, like the stem of xipioptov. Root (f/i^a) [Rhizome] 

 black, rough, like a club (^a/o/^c) ; gathered in autumn." Dried and 

 taken with wine, it is recommended for dysentery and bowel complaints ; 

 it is also powerfully anaphrodisiac. 1 For all these uses the seeds are also 

 good. It is called Nymphaea because it " loves a watery place " ; it is 

 found plentifully (xotirj) in Elis in the river Anigros, and in Aliartia of 

 Bceotia. This description all together is quite recognizable for Nymphaea 

 alba ; the black ovary is the only discrepancy. There is, continues 

 Dioscorides, another nymphaea [which is called nymphona (w/jufibva), 

 and its flower nouphar (voy^^)] with leaves like the former, but the root 

 [rhizome] white and rough, flowers yellow, brilliant, resembling a rose. 

 This can be no other than a species of Nuphar. He describes further, in 

 book ii, two kinds of x'ja;w-, the Greek and the Egyptian ; the former 

 appears to be a kind of bean, the latter Nelumbo ; the fruit of this (which 

 is used for food) he calls xc^iopco^ or xtfiwrtov, and the root, which is like 

 that of a cane, is also eaten both raw and cooked, and is called xoloxaala. 



Pliny in several places in his Natural History, uses the word " lotos " 

 for four different plants, the herb lotos, the Egyptian lotos, a shrub lotos 

 (perhaps the pomegranate) and the tree lotos. The fruit of the second of 



1 " Eadem contra veneris insomnia hibitur, quae adimit : quin et aliquot diebus continue pota, 

 genitale flaccidum et enerve rcddit." Edit. Sprcngel, 1: 479. 



