204 Book Notices. [^'''^Feb^'''' 



Tombs should be associated with a work which, while it ac- 

 complishes so little of real value, will only add to the difficulties 

 of Australian plant-lovers. 



The Sacred Lotus Water-Lily. — The establishment of the 

 beautiful water-lily, Nelumhiiim speciosnm. in the Melbourne 

 Botanic Gardens may now be considered certain. As re- 

 corded in the Naturalist for March last (]'ict. Nat., vol. xxvi., 

 p. i8o), through the courtesy of Dr. Holtze, Director of the 

 Adelaide Botanic Gardens, a large clump of soil containing 

 rhizomes of the plant was taken from the lake there and for- 

 warded by express train at the end of August, 1909. The 

 clump w^as placed in position in the lily lake in the southern 

 portion of the gardens immediately after arrival. The plant 

 grew and flow^ered fairly well last year, at this time, and it has 

 since greatly increased, numerous flowers having been recently 

 produced. The plant is stated to have been previously grown 

 in Victoria on one or two isolated occasions, but it evidently 

 was not established for any considerable length of time. It 

 is found in the northern parts of Australia, but it is owing to 

 the ancient worship of it by the Egy]:)tians, as well as by the 

 native inhabitants of India, Thibet, China, and Japan, where 

 it is also found in a natural state, that it has become such an 

 object of interest. The sculptured representations of the plant 

 are said to abound among the ruins of ancient Egyptian temples, 

 and it is figured in a manuscript, supposed to be of the 12th 

 century, in a library at Florence. Mr. F. M. Bailey tells us 

 that the root-stock and seeds are eaten by the aboriginals of 

 North Queensland, as they are by the Egyptians and by the 

 natives of India to-day. The leaves, which are circular in 

 outline and peltate, with a radiating venation, spring from the 

 horizontal root-stalks, and for a time float on the surface of 

 the water, are themselves very handsome objects ; afterwards 

 they are elevated above the water by the lengthening of the 

 stalks or petioles. These stalks abound in spiral fibres, which 

 in India are carefully extracted and used as wicks to burn in 

 the temples during religious ceremoities. The beautiful pink 

 flowers are some six or eight inches across, and are borne on 

 long stalks traversed by regular air-canals. The flowers con- 

 sist of four or five sepals, with several rows of petals and 

 stamens, attached at their bases to the receptacle, and a stigma 

 which is sessile. The receptacle is funnel-shaped, and has been 

 compared to an inverted wasps nest. The ovaries are 

 numerous, and placed in sockets in the upper surface The 

 seeds are without albumen, but have thick cotyledons. A 

 white-flowering variety is said to be i:)rocurable in some of our 

 northern States. — F. Pitcher. 



