74 THE LOTUS. 



This very poisonous milky juice flows from incisions 

 which are made in the bark. The lacquer is prepared 

 by adding Cinnabar and oil extracted from Bignonia 

 ocymoidcs. Rhus vernicifera will grow out of doors in 

 the warmer parts of Germany. 



A^^e must not neglect those species of Zyziphus which 

 we come across in Mortola Gardens; for to this family 

 belongs the Zyziphus Lotus which is indigenous to South 

 Europe. Z\-ziphus Lotus is apparenth' the bush whose 

 fruits are menti(.)ned \i\ flomer. Its fruits were an im- 

 portant article of food for the poor; and in those daws 

 the inhabitants of Tunis and Tripoli were called "Loto- 

 phagi" because they lived principalh' on them. Man^- 

 different plants went b\' the name of Lotos or Lotus in 

 ancient times, and were distinguished b\' the names of 

 their native countries. Thus Zyziphus Lotus was the 

 C}-renian Lotus, Kymphaea Lotos the Egyptian Lotos, 

 j\"ebii!!biuiji spcciosiDii the sacred Lotos of the Hindoos, 

 while those "Lotos trees", which adorned the public 

 gardens at Rome, were probabh' Ccltis aiisiralis, the 

 "Nettle tree", which grows in our own [gardens. At 

 least according to old Matthiolus of Siena, the classical 

 commentator of Dioscorides, it was this tree which the 

 Romans called "L'^bian Lotus". They liked it because 

 of its ample shade, and because \\. afforded abundant 

 shelter for the birds. In 92 B. C. there were six Lotos 

 trees in the garden of the orator Crassus on the Palatine 

 Hill. They stood as high as the Palace. It was consi- 

 dered a serious loss, when 150 years later the\' were de- 

 stro}'ed in the conflagration during Nero's reign. Ccltis 



