18 .ETHIOPIAN LILY. 



East, the Nelumbium is especially to be seen on 

 those lakes which resist the drought of the hot sea- 

 son. The large blossoms nearly ten inches in dia- 

 meter at full expansion, and produced, in some parts, 

 throughout the entire year are described by all 

 who have seen them in their native waters to be of 

 the most gorgeous character, although almost desti- 

 tute of odour. In the words of Roxburgh, the flowers 

 are " large and beautiful beyond description, particu- 

 larly in the rose-coloured varieties. ... In 

 China, there is a still more beautiful bright crimson 

 variety, which they call Hung-lin," and which has 

 been stated to be edible. This plant seems to supply 

 the natives of India both with food and dishes from 

 which to eat it. The seeds, and likewise the tender 

 shoots of the roots, are made use of by them as an 

 article of diet, while they use the large leaves in- 

 stead of plates, from which to take their food. The 

 spiral vessels which Dr Wight has observed to abound 

 in the Nelumbium, are carefully collected, and form 

 those wicks, " which, on great and solemn occasions, 

 are burnt in the lamps of the Hindoos, placed be- 

 fore the shrines of their gods." 



The Nelumbium, or Rose of the Nile, must not 

 be confounded by the non-botanical reader with a 

 very different plant, often cultivated in our green- 

 houses under the names of Lily of the Nile and 

 ^Ethiopian Lily. This is the Calla ^Ethiopica of Lin- 

 naeus, the Richardia Africana of modern botanists, 



