96 FLORA OF THE 



infer from his reasoning that there was no other plant 

 known to the ancients. 



It will be necessary, though wearisome, to enter into 

 this subject in some detail, in order to show that Mr. 

 Goodyear cannot be right in casting aside the date-tree 

 and other plants as motives in ancient decorative art, 

 and substituting the lotus as the sole origin of all ancient 

 decorations. 



He is right in stating (p. 32) that the Lotus of the 

 Egyptian paintings is a NympJioea and not a Nehimbium} 

 The ' rose lotus ' of Goodyear may be the red variety, 

 although on the Egyptian wall-painting in the British 

 Museum both the red and the white flowered lotuses 

 are represented, with green outer bracts (sepals). 



Miss Amelia B. Edwards ^ has taken Mr, Goodyear's 

 view regarding the lotus, as having been the ' fons 

 et origo ' of all ancient decorations ; and she seems quite 

 decided (p. 178) that the calyx sections of the lotus, 

 " and those only," were the originals of the Ionic volutes. 

 She says : " of the three varieties which flourished abun- 

 dantly in the time of Heredotus — the white, the blue, 

 and the rose lotus — only the last {Nelumbuim speciosiiDi) 

 has disajDpeared." 



1 G. Nicholson's ' Encyclopaedia Horticultural ' — Nelumbium, leaves peltate, 

 Nel. lutetim W. Indies and Southern US. ; N. speciosum, Asia ; Nyfuphcea 

 stellata, leaves 2-lobed at the base, blue flower ; tropical Africa, and was pro- 

 bably held sacred by the Egyptians ; (syn. Nym. coerulea) ; A/ymp/iaa lotus, 

 Egyptian lotus, tropics of old world, leaves 2-lobed at the base, red or white 

 flower. 



^ 'Pharoahs, Fellahs, and Explorers,' p. 176. 



