The name of Lily has been improperly applied to it, 33 

 it has not the least affinity with the Lily, either in its root, 

 fruit, or flower. Perhaps, from the purity of its white corol- 

 la, as the idea of delicacy and purity is attached to the very 

 name of Lily. 



Flowers of Convallaria, monopetalous, bell-shaped, six- 

 cleft, nodding, sometimes double: leaves large, elliptical, rib- 

 bed, entire, acute, on long petioles: root perennial. 



LOTOS. 



Lotos, a name which has been more variously applied, 

 and of which, perhaps, 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 \a,, the Greek 

 for to will, or to desire, alluding, as they suppose, to the plant 

 being greatly esteemed. [Bees' Cyclopedia.] 



It has been suggested by one who has read this note, 

 that, from the Greek verb xw, there is derived an adjective, 

 whose superlative is x^jo;, signifying the best which ac- 

 cords with the estimate in which the ancients held this plant} 

 and that, by dropping the letter * in this superlative, for the 

 sake of euphony, which the ancients frequently did, we have 

 precisely the Greek name of this plant, A.MTO S : a conjecture 

 by no means so strained as many of those in which etymolo- 

 gists often indulge. 



Ainsworth derives Lotos and Lotus, from the nymph 

 Lotis, and refers to Ovid; who tells us, in the story of the 

 unfortunate Dryope, who was punished, by instant transfor- 

 mation, for inadvertently plucking a flower from the plant into 

 which the nymph had been metamorphosed. 



" Not distant far a wat'ry Lotos grew; 

 The spring was new, and all the verdant boughs 

 Adorn'd with blossoms, promised fruits that vie. 

 In glowing colours, with the Tyrian die. 



* * # * 



Lotis, the nymph, (if rural tales be true,) 



* * * * 



Forsook her form; and fixing here, became 

 A flow'ry plant, which still preserves her name. 



Pope's Ovid. 



In Camoens' Luciad, we find a mention of the shrub 

 Lotus, corresponding with the Lotos of Ovid, with its fruit 

 of " Tyrian die." The Lybian Lotos is there described as 

 " a shrub like a bramble; the berries like the myrtle, but pur- 

 ple when ripe, and about the bigness of an olive. Mixed 

 with bread-corn, it was used as food for slaves: they, also, 

 made an agreeable wine of it, but which would not keep above 

 ten days." 



This corresponds, also, with the plant described by Park, 

 as abounding in Africa, particularly in sandy soils. He took 

 a drawing of a branch in flower; the fruit of which was a small 

 farinaceous berry, about the size of an olive; which, when 

 dried, was made into excellent cakes, resembling, in colour 

 and flavour, the sweet ginger-bread. The natives, also, pre- 

 pare from it a liquor delicately sweet; the same, perhaps, 

 which is fabled to have produced such extraordinary effects 

 on the companions of Ulysses. 



Though some have conjectured that the Lotus Glycyca- 

 lamus of the ancients, and that which is mentioned by Homer, 

 is our sugar-cane. 



"Not prone to ill, nor strange to foreign guest, 

 They eat, they drink, and nature gives the feast; 

 The trees around them all their fruit produce; 

 Lotos the name; divine nectarious juice; 

 (Thence call'd Lotophagi) which whoso tastes, 

 Insatiate, riots in the sweet repasts, 

 Not other home, nor other care intends, 

 But quits his house, his country and his friends: 

 The three we sent, from off th' enchanting ground, 

 We dragg'd reluctant, and by force we bound, 

 The rest, in haste, forsook the pleasing shore, 

 Or, the charm tasted, had return'd no more." 



Pope's Odyssey. 



The definition of Lotos in the Greek Lexicon, is this: 

 " A tree whose fruit is so sweet, that foreigners, having tasted 

 of it, forget their own country whence the proverb to have 

 eaten of the Lotus, is applied to those who prefer a foreign 

 country to their own." 



There was a neat proverb among the Romans, derived 

 from this fruit it was in two words: " Lotum gustavit" 

 that is, " He has tasted the Lotus." It was applied to those 

 who remained longer than was proper among foreign nations: 

 because the fruit of .the Lotus is so sweet, that strangers, for 

 that cause, used to stick to the place where it grew, and where 

 they have once tasted it. [See Pliny, 13th, 17th.] 



In Herodotus, we find a description of another species 

 of Lotos, an aquatic plant. [Book 2d, Euterpe.'] 



In speaking of the Egyptians, who inhabit the marshy 

 grounds, he says: " To procure themselves the means of sus- 

 tenance more easily, they make use of the following expe- 

 dient: When the waters have risen to their extremest height, 

 and all their fields are overflowed, there appears above the 

 surface, an immense quantity of plants of the Lily species, 

 which the Egyptians call Lotos: having cut down these, they 

 dry them in the sun. The seed of the flower, which resem- 

 bles that of the poppy, they bake, and make into a kind of 

 bread: they, also, eat the root of the plant, which is round, 

 of an agreeable flavour, and about the size of an apple. There 

 is a second species of the Lotos, which grows in the Nile; 

 and which is not unlike a- rose. The fruit, which grows from 

 the bottom of the root, is like a wasp's nest: it is found to con- 

 tain a number of kernals, of the size of an olive-stone, which 

 are very grateful, either fresh or dried." 



A note in Herodotus tells us " The Lotos is an aquatic 

 plant peculiar to Egypt, which grows in rivulets, and by the 

 side of lakes. There are two species the one, bearing a 

 white, the other a blue flower. The root of the first species 

 is round, resembling a potato, and is eaten by the inhabitants 

 who live near the lake Menzala." Savory. 



We do not find this aquatic Lotos to be " peculiar to 

 Egypt." It is abundant in India, where it is held in the high- 

 est veneration. Among the Brahmans, and enthusiastic Hin- 

 doos, no object in nature is looked on with more superstition} 

 and their writings abound with mystical allusions to this lovely 



