406 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



symbols of the attributes of the god to whom they 

 are dedicated. 



To avoid tedium we shall omit reference to all the 

 remaining flowers, which are dedicated to members 

 of the Hindu pantheon, with the exception of the 

 water lilies, and these both in ancient India and 

 ancient Egypt occupied a prominent place in myth- 

 ology. The plants themselves were, in all probability, 

 common to both countries nearly at the same time, 

 and if we have come to the conclusion that the pre- 

 eminence was given to one kind in India and to 

 another in Egypt, this resulted probably from local 

 circumstances and local traditions. The intimate 

 relationship between the two has necessitated a 

 parallel history of both, commencing with the 

 Egyptian lotos to avoid repetition. The lotos 

 (Nympkcea), writes Sir G. Wilkinson, was the favourite 

 for wreaths and chaplets. But it is singular that, 

 while the lotos is so often represented, no instance 

 occurs on the monuments of the Indian lotos, 

 or Nelumbium, though the Roman Egyptian sculp- 

 tures point it out as a peculiar plant of Egypt, 

 placing it about the figure of the god Nile ; and it 

 is stated by Latin writers to have been common in 

 the country. 1 The distinction between these two 



1 Wilkinson's "Popular Account of Ancient Egyptians," 

 vol. i., p. 56. 



