April lo, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



173 



I believe that tlie day is not far distant when this so-called 

 "Sacred Lotus " and its beautiful varieties will be as universally 

 cultivated and as popular in America as they now are in some 

 eastern countries. I may here mention one of its habits which 

 would seem to furnish an example of "vegetable intelligence." 

 During the simimer the slender rhizomatic stems spread hori- 

 zontally in every-direction, but at only a moderate depth in the 

 soil. Upon the approach of autumn the growing points of 

 these rhizomes descend to a much greater depth (sometimes 

 eighteen inches), and there -the tubers are formed which lie 

 dormant until late in spring, when an increase of temperature 

 induces a new growth. This new growth immediately re- 

 ascends to the normal level, and the process of horizontal 

 growth is repeated. Is this not a design to preserve the tubers 

 irom freezing and the depredations of animals ? The accom- 

 ])anying illustration was made from a photograph taken in 

 August, 1888, and does not show the entire plantation. 



Bordentown, N.J. ^'. i?. Sturte%tant. 



and no other plant has played so prominent a part in the 

 ceremonies of royal life, in the rites of religion, or in the 

 development of art. 



]Many kinds of Water-lilies were familiar to the ancient 

 Egyptians, and the name Lotus seems to have been given 

 to them all. Among them were Nympha:-as analogous to 

 our common white and yellow Water lilies, and also a 

 species with blue flowers (A^ ccerulea or slellala), and an- 

 other which was either red or white with red-streaked 

 sepals {N. Lo/us). But the true Egyptian Lotus, the "Sa- 

 cred Lotus" of the whole East, is the plant with rosy 

 flowers which Linnaeus called A'y7npJicea nelunibo, but mod- 

 ern botanists have placed in another genus and called Ae- 

 IiDiihium speciosuni. This no longer grows wild in the 

 Nile, and, perhaps, was not a native of Egypt. It appears 

 in very early pictures produced at a time when Egypt was 



J 





The Sacred Lotus in New Jersey. 



[We have more than once alluded to the great service 

 rendered to American horticulture by Mr. Sturtevant in 

 popularizing the cultivation of the finest aquatic plants in 

 this country. A still greater service is his demonstration 

 of the fact that the beautiful "Sacred Lotus" can be nat- 

 uralized here. Its hardiness having been demonstrated, 

 there is now no reason why this Lotus cannot be made 

 to cover shallow ponds from Cape Cod through all the 

 coast-region of the middle and southern states ; or why 

 this beautiful plant may not become as conspicuous a 

 feature in American life and art as it is in those of Japan, 

 where, although doubtless introduced from continental 

 Asia, it is as widely spread as any indigenous plant. If 

 the Bordentown experiment proves to be the precursor of 

 many thousand more, as it is sincerely to be hoped that it 

 may. Mr. Sturtevant's name will deserve to live among 

 th(^se of men who have made valuable contributions to 

 American civilization. 



As far back as written history or the picture-records of 

 ancient peoples reach, the "Sacred Lotus" may be found: 



practically shut off from the rest of the world ; and if it 

 was, indeed, an exotic, must have been introduced in those 

 primitive days when this part of the world was being peo- 

 pled, or re-peopled, by tribal immigrations from the East. 

 But there is nothing improbable in such a supposition. 

 Tree-worship was one of the very earliest forms of relig- 

 ion, and where trees were adored certain flowers may 

 well have been held sacred and have been transporteil 

 from . place to place, togethei with such herbs and 

 roots as had proved themselves possessed oi healing 

 properties. The Lotus seems to have been revered in 

 India as well as in Egypt from the dawn of history ; 

 and it is not impossible that it traveled from the former 

 country — where we know it is indigenous — to the banks 

 of the Nile at a time so remote that even Egyptians of 

 the earliest historic dynasties may have believed in its 

 local origin. 



The difference in habit between this plant and the 

 Nymphtcas will readily be appreciated from our illustration. 

 " It is at least one-third larger," says an observer who has 



