224 The, BR Eby Sey FE Re BAL, 
D.1-V.1:S. 1 0.N, AL 
1. The Egyptian Lotus. 
Nympbea foli's cordatis dentatis. 
The root is very large, thick, and of an ob- 
long form, and covered with fibres. 
The leaves are fupported fingly on long, flen- 
der footftalks. 
They are very large, and of a heart-fafhioned 
fhape ; being deeply cut at the bafe, where they 
are broadeft, and thence fmaller to the end: they 
are fharply dentated on the edges, and of a flethy 
fubftance and bright green colour. 
Their footftalks are long, as thofe of our 
common water-lillies ; and they are fmooth on the 
furface, and of a deep green. 
The flowers are large and white: they are fup- 
ported fingly on flender footftalks, much longer 
than thofe of the leaves, and are compofed of 
many petals, placed in numerous feries, and fur- 
rounded by a cup compofed of four leaves, as 
in the common white water lilly. 
The feed-veflél is very large, round, but 
drawn up to a neck at the top, and full of a 
fpungy matter, with many large feeds: the large 
cup remains with this, and is fpread out under 
it, in the manner of the rays of a ftar. 
Alpinus calls it Lotus Agyptia ; a name moft 
authors have copied from him. Sir Hans Sloane, 
Nymphea Indica flore candido, folio in ambitu fer- 
rato. Others, mbel. 4 
It is a native of Egypt, the Eaft Indies, and 
the hotter parts of America, and flowers in au- 
tumn. 
The root, which is of the fhape and fize of a large 
eg, is a delicacy with the people of the Eaft, and 
accounted a very wholefome and delicate food: 
they boil it, and eat it with the liquor. Itis fo ex- 
tremely abundant in the Nile, that it ferves as a 
kind of univerfal food to the poor, who have no- 
thing to do but go into the places where the wa- 
ter is fhalloweft, and take up in an hour or two 
food for many days for their families. 
FOREIGN 
GHP 1d) CALS &. 
2. Great red Water-lilly, called the A°gyptian bean, 
Nymph.ea pediculis [pinofis flore rubente. 
The root is large, thick, and hung with nu- 
merous long fibres. 
The leaves are fupported on long footftalks, in 
the manner of thofe of the common water-lllies, 
and are, like them, of a round form, and great 
bignefs ; but though they agree thus with the 
others in the general fhape and manner of appear- 
ing, they differ in very effential particulars. 
The footftalks of the leaves are full of fmall 
prickles, all pointing upwards, and the leaf it- 
felf is umbilicated ; the ftalk not being inferted 
at the edge, as in the others, but in the centre 
of the leaf. 
The flowers are very large, and of a bright 
and elegant red: they are compofed of feveral 
feries of petals, and are fupported each on a long 
prickly footftalk, as the leaves. 
The feed-veffel is very large, and of a fingular 
form : it feems as if it had been cut off at the top, 
and there are in it feveral cells, each of which 
contains one feed. 
Thefe are as large as the biggeft filbert, and of 
a brownifh red colour on the outfide, but white 
within, 
The whole fruit is of a fpungy fubftance, and 
the feeds are foft. 
It is a native of the Eaft Indies, and other 
warm quarters of the world. It flowers in July. 
Herman calls it Nymphea Indica faba Aigyptia 
diéta flore incarnato. Others call it fimply, Feba 
Aigyptiaca ; and fome after its Eaftern name ze- 
lumbo. 
We fee the figure of this plant frequently in 
the Chinefe works on porcelain, and in their ja- 
pan, and many held it to be imaginary ; but 
later obfervations have fhewn it to be the repre- 
fentation of a-real plant, very common in their 
waters, and familiarly known to the ancients. It 
is what all the old writers have meant by the faba 
Algyptia,. 
Th END of we THIRTEENTH CLASS. 
