14 



The Waterlilies. 



mention of Nelumbo under the name of lotus, and the earliest Latin 

 or Greek record of a blue Egyptian lotus. Nelumbo is frequently men- 

 tioned elsewhere by Athenaeus, once again under the name of lotus, 

 but more often as xtfttbpiov, xuapoz atyunuoz, or xolozaoiu (Bk. 3, ch. 2). He 

 says, at variance with all other writers, that the Egyptians call this plant 

 lotus, but quotes the other names from Nicander, Theophrastus, Diphilus 

 the Siphnian, and Phylarchus. 



Galenus adds nothing to the facts and theories of his predecessors 

 concerning these plants. He recognizes three kinds of lotus (Bk. 7, 

 ch. 11), the herb, the tree and the Egyptian lotus (Nymphaea), and 

 two kinds of Nymphaea (Bk. 7, ch. 13), one with black rhizomes and one 

 with white ; these correspond with Dioscorides' descriptions of Nymphaea 

 alba and Nuphar. He simply mentions Nelumbo, under the name of 

 /aba Aegyptia (Bk. 1, ch. 20). 



From this time onward we find nothing of note for our science 

 until it revived with the Revival of Learning. William Turner in 1548 

 gives this quaint note in his catalogue of *' The Names of Herbes : " 



" Nymphea is also named in greeke nymphaia & madonais & is called in 



english water Roses, & some with the Potecaries cal it nenufar. The duch me 



cal thys herbe Seeblumen. Boeth the kyndes of water Roses growe in standyng 

 waters." 



Mr. Britten (cf. Turner, 1 548, p. 1 30) has identified " boeth the kyndes " 

 as Nymphaea alba L. and Nuphar lutea Sm. 



Three years later Fuchsius and Hieronymus Bock (Tragus) in 

 Germany published their botanical classics. The former has a rude 

 woodcut of the white waterlily with the Latin name Nymphaea Candida 

 and the Greek Nu/ifaia huxy. On the next page occurs "Nymphaea 

 lutea" with a figure which identifies it with Nuphar. 



Tragus goes into the subject much more extensively and shows 

 evidences of personal observation. There are two kinds of " Seeblumen," 

 the white and the yellow, of which the former is commoner. He compares 

 the flower of this to a beautiful double {gefult) lily or rose, with each 

 petal shaped like one's thumb ; and in the midst of the flower is a 

 golden yellow sun (ein schone goltgale Sonneri), and it is odorless. He 

 describes the shape of the bud, and its green "outer leaves." The 

 broad, round, disc-like foliage leaves, he says, are stiff and leathery, 

 and grow on smooth hollow {lucken) stems. His figures are quite crude 

 but recognizable, the " Weiss Seebluomen " as Nymphaea alba, the other 



