Nelumbium.1 PAPAVEBACE^, 3d 



Oudh, in jhils. Disteib. : Eastward to E. Bengal and China; also in 

 Kashmir. It flowers during the rains. The farinaceous seeds are eaten 

 after being roasted in hot sand. 



3. NELUMBIUM, Juss. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. i., 115. 



Aquatic herbs with slender elongated rhizomes. Leaves and flowers 

 raised high above the water. Leaves peltate. Flowers pink, white or 

 yellow. Sepals 4-5, caducous. Petals and stamens many, bypogy- 

 nous, many-seriate, caducous. Anthers with a club-shaped appendage. 

 Ovaries many, 1-celled, sunk in the flat top of an obconic fleshy 

 torus; style ^oxt, exserted ; ^^^'g^^wa terminal, dilated ; ovules l'"!, 

 pendulous. Ripe carpels 1-seeded, ovoid, loose in tbe cavities of the 

 enlarged spongy torus; pericarp bony, smooth. Seed filling the 

 carpel, without albumen. Two species are known, one found in Asia, 

 N. Africa ani Australia ; the other in N- America. 



N. speciosum, WilU. 8p. PI. 1258 ; Boxh. Fl Inch ii, 647 ; W. <^ A. 

 Prod. 16; Boyle III. 65; Hk. f. <^ T. Fl. ind. 247. Vern. Eanwal (The 

 Sacred Lotus). 



A large handsome aquatic herb with milky juice. Bootstoch creeping, 

 much-branched. Peduncles and leaf-stalks 3-6 ft. long, full of spiral 

 vessels, smooth or with small scattered prickles. Leaves 2-3 ft. in diam., 

 orbicular, entire, membranous, glaucous, cupped. Flowers solitary, 

 4-10 in. in diam, white or rose. Petals elliptic, concave. Torusin fruit 

 2-4 in. in diam. 



Oommon in jhils and tanks, often cultivated ; in flower during the hot 

 season. Distrib. : Throughout India, as far north as Kashmir ; also in 

 Persia, N. Africa, Malay Islands, China, Japan, and Trop. Australia. 

 The rhizomes, stalks, flowers and seeds are eaten, u,nd various parts of 

 the plant are used medicinally. This is the 'Sacred Bean' of ancient 

 Egypt, but it no longer grows in that country. Much venerated by 

 Hindus from very ancient times. 



VII.— PAPAVERACEJE. 



Annual, rarely perennial herbs, often with milky or coloured sap. 

 Leaves alternate, or the upper ones rarely sub-opposite. Stipules 0. 

 Flowers hermaphrodite, regular or irregular. Sepals 2 or 3, rarely 

 4, caducous Petals 4-6, rarely more, deciduous. Stamens indefi- 

 nite or few, nypogynous, free or diadelphous ; anthers 2, rarely 

 1-celled, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary free, usually 1-celled 

 and containing many ovules on parietal placentas ; stigma simple 

 or divided. Fruit a capsule opening by pores, rarely indehiscent. 

 — Species about 200 ; found chiefly in the N. Temperate zone. 



