1 6 The Waterlilies. 



a unique figure (Fig. 4) to show what this confused plant must be a 

 figure which formed the basis of a heated discussion for the next three 

 quarters of a century. We can only refer to this in passing, since 

 Nelumbo, and Arum, and Colocasia are the genera most nearly concerned. 



Lobelius' " Observations of Plants " (1576) figures two " Nymphaeas," 

 alba and lutea, and gives their medicinal virtues at length. The cuts are 

 rude, but original and easily recognized (Fig. 5) as the species still 

 bearing those specific names. In the " Adversaria Nova," Nymphaea 

 lutea is given before alba, with most of the synonyms used by Tragus and 

 in addition Nenuphar officinarum, plompen (Dutch), Escudetes del Rio 

 and Higos del Rio (Spanish), Water lilie, blanc d'eau and Lis d'estang. 

 From this time forward, waterlily is a term consistently used as a 

 synonym for Nymphaea to the present day, except that in Devonshire, 

 Eng., Iris pseud-acorus has shared the same common name (Friend, 1882). 

 Nymphaea alba is not directly given any common name by Lobelius, but 

 it is evident that some of those given above apply to it ; he says it is 

 sometimes called "major" to distinguish it from "N. alba minor," by 

 which some small white flower, probably Limnanthemum, is designated. 

 A " Nymphaea lutea minor Septentrionalium " is also figured ; it may be 

 our Heteranthera. " Nymphaea," therefore, would seem to be definable 

 as an aquatic plant with evident flowers and floating leaves ; the idea 

 represented by the word is acquiring a more distributed content. " Lotus 

 Aegyptia " {Nymphaea lotus L.) is discussed on pages 385 and 386, but 

 Lobelius is unable to interpret the descriptions given by the older writers, 

 and regards the whole thing as a fabrication. He seems to have no idea 

 of such a plant as Nelumbo. 



Lyte's Herball (1578) {fide Britten and Holland, 1879) gives a single 

 name for the white and yellow waterlilies, viz., nenuphar. This name was 

 also corrupted into " ninnyvers." 



In 1589, Petrus Bellonus published observations from Greece, Asia, 

 Egypt, &c. ; he found nothing in Egypt to correspond with the old 

 descriptions of Nelumbo, but found the word " colocasia " used for the 

 root of an aroid which was used for food, as was already known by 

 Matthiolus. So he concluded that Colocasia, Lotus, and Faba Aegyptia 

 were synonyms, and made vain endeavors to interpret Herodotus, Theo- 

 phrastus, Dioscorides and Pliny in harmony with this view. 



A great beam of light was shed on the subject, however, by Alpinus 

 (1592), who made a special study of the Egyptian lotus. Finding no sign 

 of Nelumbo, but only nymphaeas and aroids in Egypt, he considered the 



