Historical. 17 



ancient writers wrong in their synonymy ; colocasia, he said, was an aroid. 

 " Lotus Aegyptia " he believed to be the white flower which, from its 

 resemblance to the European waterlily, he had no hesitation in calling a 

 " larger nymphaea " ; in fact he regards it as practically identical with the 

 species so familiar about Venice. For both have the poppy-like head, and 

 seed like millet, and both, he said, retreat under water at sundown to 

 emerge again in the early morning, " as is observed by everyone in the 

 common nymphaea " {quae in communi nymphaea ab omnibus animadver- 

 titur). Indeed he was surprised that Pliny and others thought this 

 behavior strange in the Egyptian lotus. Both flowers and leaves are 

 submerged at night, according to Alpinus, the flowers emerging first, at 

 sunrise, and a little later all the leaves appear. Of course this does not 

 really occur; but the flower of Nymphaea alba closes into a tight bud 

 during the afternoon and is covered by the dull green sepals, to open 

 again with the light of the next day ; the disappearance of the leaves, 

 however, must have been purely owing to darkness, and their reappear- 

 ance after the flower must have been due to their darker color. Alpinus 

 stated that the white Egyptian lotus was called by the Arabs " nuphar," 

 and by the Hebrews " Arais el Nil." After the publication of the work 

 just discussed, Alpinus received numerous tubers of the Egyptian lotus 

 from a Venetian doctor in Cairo ; they were of the size of a walnut, ovate, 

 with fibrous roots, blackish outside, yellowish within ; they were said to be 

 eaten freely by the Egyptians, both raw and cooked ; the sender also said 

 that the plant resembled the lesser nymphaea (JV. alba L.) except that tHfe 

 flowers were blue. " The which, if it be true, this is the lotus niloticus of 

 Athenaeus." Alpinus figures it with entire leaves, insuring its identity 

 with N. caertilea Sav. At a still later date (1735 b), the same writer 

 summed up the knowledge of the Egyptian lotus (" Lotus Aegyptia ") in 

 a " dissertation " on the subject. As synonyms are given Lotus niliacum, 

 Nymphaea, and Nuphar Aegyptium. The flower and its stalk are called 

 Arais el Nil, the leaf and petiole Bis el Nil, the root (tuber) Biarum. 

 Four plates are devoted to it ; one shows the whole plant, with its dentate 

 leaves, ovoid tuber and the fruit devoid of floral leaves ; another shows 

 the calyx and fruit on a larger scale ; the third shows two fully open 

 flowers, and the fourth gives an enlarged view of a leaf and a tuber. The 

 flower is described as having the four outer leaves green outside and 

 white within, each with five to seven or more longitudinal nerves, spread- 

 ing wide open when in bloom. Within these are about 12 smaller leaves 

 [petals], pure white ; then 25 to 40 long acute leaves [outer stamens], 



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