The American Botanist 



VOL. XX JOLIET, ILL., FEBRUARY, 1914 No. 1 



St suffices, What suffices? 



suffices, reckoned rie^ht/y. 



Spring shall bloom where now the ice is, 

 ^oses ma/ce the bramble siyhtlt/, 

 J^nd the quickening sun shine briyhtli/, 

 ytnd the latter wind blow liyhtlj/, 



y(nd my yarden teem with spices, 



— Rosetti. 



THE AMERICAN LOTUS 



By Chas. O. Chambers. 



TO plant in history, perhaps, has been invested with a larger 

 ^ meed of mysticism and romance than that accorded to 

 the lotus (Nelumbium) . Other genera than Nelumbium have 

 shared the effulgence of myth and poetry associated with this 

 name but they are not included here. Whether the sacred bean 

 or lotus of the Nile was truly a Nchnnhium or not it is difficult 

 to say, now, but it seems certain that Nelumbium specio'suin, a 

 native of India and cultivated in the old world from time im- 

 memorial, was brought to the Nile and, under cultivation, was 

 highly prized as food at first but later also for its beauty; that 

 it flourished for a time and eventually disappeared from that 

 region, leaving only its name and memory. 



With the exception of its color and the shape of the anther 

 the sacred lotus of the Orient (A^. spcciosuin ) , is identical with 

 our American lotus (A^. tut cum) , which is yellow in place of 



