io The Waterlilies. 



in this he is certainly mistaken ; for the one referred to by Proclus is 

 evidently diurnal, and therefore must be N. caerulea. The reader may 

 also be warned against the statement of Prichard that " Nymphaea lotus 

 and N. Nelumbo [= Nelutnbo nucifera\ appear plentifully on the sculp- 

 tures of Thebes." The unanimous voice of later observers sufficiently 

 negatives this. 



So it appears that the lotus was enjoyed in many ways, but especially 

 as an ornament, a thing of beauty. It was the emblem of the Nile God, 

 for it was the evident product of the river. It was offered to Osiris as 

 any treasured object is consigned to the gods. It was laid upon the 

 bodies of the dead, but other plants could take its place at seasons of 

 the year when the lotus was out of bloom. Thus we see no decided 

 evidence that it was a sacred flower, or an object of worship. It was 

 the " favorite flower in the hands of the Egyptians" (Wilkinson, j: 132-3) 

 as the rose or others might be in the hands of any modern people. It 

 was the symbol of Nefer Turn and the resurrection just as Lilium longi- 

 florum has a similar significance with us and is used for decoration at 

 Easter. 



pre-linn,ean literature. 



The facts of the foregoing account are drawn from the researches 

 of scholars during the past hundred years, and have had no influence 

 upon the growth of botanical science. The beginnings of our present 

 knowledge of the waterlilies are to be found in early Greek and Roman 

 literature, from which a growth can be continuously traced. It is true, 

 however, that classic writers became acquainted with one or two African 

 species of Nymphaea by traveling in Egypt and noting the customs of 

 the people and the plants which surrounded them. For example, 

 Herodotus (Bk. 2, 92) tells us that when the Nile " is full and has 

 made the plains like a sea, great numbers of lilies {xpivov), which the 

 Egyptians call lotus {Xmro^j, spring up in the water : these they gather 

 and dry in the sun, then having pounded the middle of the lotus, which 

 resembles a poppy, they make bread of it and bake it. The root also 

 of this lotus is fit for food, and is tolerably sweet, and is round, and of 

 the size of an apple." This evidently refers to a Nymphaea, probably 

 to N. lotus L. ; for the white-flowered form would be more likely to appeal 

 to the writer as a " lily " than the blue N. caerulea. The description 

 applies equally well to either species ; perhaps, like most other early 

 writers, Herodotus did not distinguish between the two, or did not notice 



