FLOWERS OF GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE 
Herodotus, Strabo, and Theophrastus as a native of Egyptian waters. It 
is abundantly represented in the sculptures of Egyptian temples, and is 
still venerated throughout India, Tibet, China, and Japan, though it has 
for a very long period entirely disappeared from Egypt. It was intro¬ 
duced to England from India in the year 1787; and N. luteum was 
brought from Carolina in 1810. 
s ecies Nelumbium luteum (yellow) has fragrant yellow 
pecies. fj owers exceeding a foot in diameter. The connective 
tissue of the anther-cells is drawn out into a narrow appendage extend¬ 
ing some distance beyond them. The blue-green leaves are a foot or 
more in diameter. Flowering in July. 
N. speciosum (showy). Sacred Bean. The fine rosy flowers are 
very fragrant, about a foot in diameter, consisting of about twenty petals; 
the appendages to the stamens, club-shaped. The leaves are from 1 to 2 
feet across, peltate, margins wavy, the upper surface clothed with an 
almost imperceptible down; ultimately raised a couple of feet above the 
water. Each carpel contains one ovule, and about twenty carpels are 
embedded in the receptacle. When these are ripe the entire head bears 
some resemblance to the rose of a watering-can, and when shaken the 
loose seeds make a noise like a child’s rattle, 
cultivation The particulars given for the cultivation of Nymphcm 
also apply to Nelnmbium , so far as soil and method of 
planting is concerned. They require bright sunshine, a rich deep soil, 
and, when grown under glass, a stove temperature. In the United 
States and Japan, where the summers are hot, they are grown in tubs, 
tanks, and ponds in the open air. They may also be grown in the South 
of England in outdoor tanks, over which frames can be placed to protect 
them during the winter and early spring. Over the glass some further 
protection in the shape of straw, fern, or matting should be placed, and in 
spring this can be moved first, then the glass partially lifted, and finally 
taken right away when all danger of frosts has passed. Propagation is 
effected as in Nymphcea by division of the rhizomes, and from seeds. 
Explanation of AT. gpeciosv/m is the species selected for illustration, 
Plate 17. and the figure of the flower is about half the natural 
size. Whilst, of course, the same Beale of reduction has been adopted 
for the leaf, it will be understood that the leaf selected by the artist 
was a small one; the true dimensions are given above. It will be noted 
that the margins are entire—devoid of teeth, and that the centre is 
marked by a pale spot from which the air-channels radiate to the 
circumference. This spot exactly corresponds to the point of attach¬ 
ment of the leaf-stalk on the under surface. It is a singular fact that 
