MYSTIC PLANTS. 



411 



the deities, were fragrant. The manner in which 

 they are held strengthens this probabiUty, as there is 

 no other reason why they should be brought into 

 such close proximity to the nose. Savigny's blue 

 water lily {Nyniphcsa ccBnilea) has just the habit and 

 the narrow acute petals of the lotos on the monu- 

 ments. The white lotos was evidently NynipJia^a lotus, 

 which is common to India and Egypt. Like others 

 of its kindred, it is liable to variation, and there is a 

 red variety, which some 

 have called a distinct 

 species, but Roxburgh 

 has declared that he 

 could see no difference 

 between them except the 

 colour of the flowers. 

 The blue lotos of Sa- 

 vigny, which he called 

 NympJiaa C(zrulea,stc:ras 

 to be the NympJi(2a stel- 



/«toof modern botanists. Messrs. Hooker and Thomson 

 have pronounced the opinion that " the blue w^ater 

 lily of the Nile and India are (like their white 

 congener N. lotus) specifically the same, the most 

 prominent difference to be found between them being 

 the sweet scent of the African plant, and its usually 

 more numerous petals and stamens." The fragrant 

 blue lotos seems to be the most common one repre- 



Fig. 85. — Lady with lotus flower, 

 from Theban tomb ( Wilkinson). 



