POLYAXDRIA. 



Theophrastus says, that '' this plant grows in 

 marshes and lakes^ and bears a head Hke a wasps nest, 

 with one bean in each cell, appearing a little above 

 it> in number about thirty. The flower twice as 

 large as a poppy, and of the colour oi a rose. The 

 root, which is thicker than the largest reed, is eaten 

 either raw, or boiled, or roasted, by the inhabitants 

 of the marshes. It grows spontaneously in great 

 plenty : they also sew the beans in the mud and make 

 plantations of them. The plant grows also in Syria 

 and Cilicia " 



The peculiarity of the capsula of this plant re- 

 embling a wasps nest is so remarkable that it is impcs- 

 sible to mistake tiie ancient authors who have de- 

 ciibed it J but, on investigating this subject, I have 

 found no authority tor calling it a Lotus; and as that 

 name perplexed me, and is liable to mislead others, 

 I have rejected it altogether, and supplied its place in 

 English by a familiar idiom agreeable to the name by 

 which Herodotus has described it. 



British Plants of this Order, 



Botanical Generic "Naines. Common Names. 



6 Adonis 2 Phkasant-eve 



2S Anemone 3 aNt.MONE 



