412 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



sented on the monuments, but the white one is chiefly- 

 alluded to by ancient authors. 



The tamara, or lotos of India, was described by 

 ancient authors under the name of kyamos, or 

 Egyptian bean. These descriptions are so substan- 

 tial that there is not the slightest doubt of the plant 

 being the Nelwnhium speciosum} Nothing can be 

 more explicit than the account given byTheophrastus. 

 He says that " it is produced in marshes and in 

 stagnant waters, the length of the stem, at the 

 longest, four cubits, and the thickness of a finger, 

 like the smooth jointless reed. The inner texture of 

 the stem is perforated throughout like a honeycomb, 

 and upon the top of it is a poppy-like seed-vessel, in 

 circumference and appearance like a wasp's nest. In 

 each of the cells there is a bean projecting a little 

 above the surface of the seed-vessel, which usually 

 contains about thirty of these beans or seeds. The 

 flower is twice the size of a poppy, of the colour of a 

 full-blown rose, and elevated above the water ; about 

 each flower are produced large leaves, of the size of a 

 Thessalian hat, having the same kind of stem as the 

 flower- stem. In each bean, when broken, may be 

 seen the embryo plant, out of which the leaf grows. 

 So much for the fruit. The root is thicker than the 



' M. C. Cooke on the " Lotos of the Ancients," in " Popular 

 Science Review," vol. x., p. 262, 



