xiv HIS CHOICE AMERICAN PLANTS 195 



Fothergill was a great water-lily, the " Water Chinquapin," 

 Nelunibium Luteum Willd., found in the Delaware and 

 other deep waters. It is closely allied to the Sacred Bean 

 or Lotus of Egypt and the east, the Colocasia of Pliny, 

 and by this name Fothergill called it. The flower, which 

 is 10 to 12 inches across, of a creamy yellow colour and 

 fragrant, rises 3 or 4 feet above the surface of the water, 

 and waves majestically to and fro. The leaves are 

 circular, peltate and sometimes 2 feet in diameter. No 

 plant in North America excels it in grandeur, simplicity 

 and beauty. Bartram expatiates in his letters on its 

 glories : how the drops of water sprinkled on its leaves 

 by the current run and dance like globules of quicksilver ; 

 and how the bull-frogs that roar at night in the forest 

 love to sit on the leaves to air themselves. Careful 

 directions were sent out by Fothergill for packing these 

 plants : the roots were embedded in wet moss, and the 

 whole enclosed in a cask, which came over safely in 1770. 

 Plant her, writes Bartram, apart from others : " she is 

 so coy a lady as not to bear a touch from any other 

 species without fainting." The king was informed of 

 the arrival of the precious cargo, a part of which was sent 

 by Fothergill to the royal garden at Kew, and part he 

 planted in his own little lake at Upton. The roots were 

 covered with loamy earth in a basket, and this was gently 

 let down to the bottom of the water, a depth of 2\ feet. 

 Repeated trials of new plants during several years had 

 only partial success, and it would appear that the " queen 

 of American flowers " was not known to bloom fully in 

 England until a generation after Fothergill had passed 

 away. 1 



One of the choicest plants in Fothergill's garden was 

 the tea tree. Tea had only come into common use in 

 England within his lifetime, and its price was still gener- 

 ally over five shillings per pound, a sum equal to much 

 more in our money. Its value as a beverage was then 



1 See letters in Darlington and MS. letters from Fothergill and Bartram 

 in Bartram MSS., and in Brit. Mus. Herbarium. See also The Botanist, No. 15, 

 Mar. 1838 ; Britton and Brown, Illust. Flora of N. United States, 1897, ii. 45. 



