272 HORTUS JAMAICENSIS. umter- 



the stamens more than half way clown. The stamens of these plants arising from the 

 upper part of the germ seem to make them approach to the class -gynandna, and the 

 order polyandria, from the number of their stigmas : the following species especially : 



3. NELUMBO. 

 Fcliis orbiculatii, peltatis, subtus radiatis ; fructu obverse ccnico, sc- 

 minibus majoribus nidulantibus. Browne, p. 343, N. 2. 



Leaves peltate, entire all round. 



Root horizontal, long, creeping, consisting of joints linked together, orate-oblong, 

 white, fleshy, esculent, tubular within ; leaves exaccty peltate, with a cavity in the cen- 

 tre above, and dichotomous veins springing from the same centre, orbiciilate with a point 

 on each side, a little waved, thin, paler underneath, smooth, of different sizes, from 

 four to twelve inches long (or more). Petioles -erect, very straight, round, hispiJ, or 

 I. thickt r below, attenuated above. Peduncles the .thickness of a fiagi r below, 

 attenuated above, spongy, muricated, one flowered. Flower as large as the palm of the 

 hand (frequently much larger) purple : Calyx -four-leaved, leaflets concave, spreading, 

 deciduous, corolla.fifteen petals, or more, ovate sub-acute, concave, many nerved on the 

 outside, spreading : Stajnens sixty or more, - than the corolla ; anthers linear, 



white, very long, plaeed on the receptacle ; germ erior ; styles as many as 



there are seeds, thick and very short ; the'stigm :ker. Pericarp turbinate, trun- 



cate, grooved corticose, opening at lop, cells one seeded, as far as thirty ; S i 1- ovate, 

 half an inch long, white . with a thin s n > >th, black, rind. Thunberg 



and I ourciro, What is con I the pericarp Gsertner calls the common re- 



ceptacle. In germination it puts forth one leaf only from the nut and does 

 duce a second till the first is entirely unl 1; ve water 



This plan ; i be improperly made a species of nymphaea, an I perhaps o 



to make a genus itself ; lor the cup of nympl a' i is perm inent, that of tiel 

 ous ; Lhe stamens of the former jjroceed from ihe si les of the ge'rtif, those or the tatter 

 from the receptacle ; an I e\ . of the nelumbo has an <. longated >t\ le, whil 



germ of the nymphasa has a stellated stigma, and isgynandrous, whereas the nelumbo is 

 1 polvandrous. 



This plan! i> a native of both tiie F.asl and West-In lies. In the East it has i 



in such venerali Indians, that they 



paint theii Gods as sitting upon it, and adorn their altars and temples with it. Sir 

 William./' itions a n Nepal : ms before' this plant, on 



entering his study, where one of its bea for examinaii - 



There are several sorts of ies, the roots, of which are sail to be an antidote 



against the biting of the snake or hooded snake. Tiie le 



s'alks, and flowers, of the other water liiies are good ; . ; >ns, hot pains, 



burnings, or scaldings; the oil, anointed on the temp.es, causes rest, the seeds and 

 roots are us* ful ii( dysenteries, diarrhoeas, gonorrhoeas, and weakness in women. The 

 I _\ nans make tin i of it; (the lotus) the Turks make an infusion of the 



flowers iii water, oxer nig!;i, to drink the next morning, to keep inem from tin- head- 

 ache. A syrup of the flowers or inst spitting of blood; and the 



pu V . 



* Of sntrar dissolved, from which the water is evaporated till it ca iliey put to it such a small 



quantity of the depurated juice of this plant as not tu hinder it- conoii lion. 



