1488 



LOTUS # arenarius. 

 Sand Lotus. 



DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. 



Nat. ord. Leguminos^e Jtiss. (Introduction to the natural system of 

 Botany, p. 87.) 



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

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



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



lata. Stipulas foliacece. Pedunculi axillares, \-Q-flori, folio Jlorali apice 

 stipati, flavi, rarius albi aut rosei. 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. I. c. 

 L. arenarius. Brotero ft. 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 cequali. Capituli 

 subsexjlori, basi folio minore sessili exstipulato stipati. Calyx pallide luteo- 

 viridis, tubo laciniis paulb longiore. Flores lutei, 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 

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

 esteemed. Others have thought, with more probability, that Xuro? 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 xvctpog, or sacred bean of 

 India, and to its Egyptian substitute, the Nymphsea; 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 Butanists. — Smith in Rees's Cyclop. 



