334 



SUPPLEMENT TO 



THE G A RDENERS' MA GAZINE. 



December 17, ^98. 



from afar off," than they did to the marsh plants and aquatics of their 

 own land. 



The rhizomes of the Nelumbo are jointed and of a pale cream or old 

 ivory-like colour, not unlike banana fingers in general appearance, and 

 they are cooked and eaten in various ways in China to day. These 

 rhizomes also abound largely in starch, and a kind of arrowroot is made 

 from them by the Chinese, and this as powdered up in milk or water 

 makes an excellent light but nutritious vegetable soup, 

 and flower-stalks also are boiled and eaten like greens, with oil, or con- 

 diments, or sauces of various kinds. From the leaf-stalks soft spiral 

 threads or fibres are ob ainable, and these are used as lamp wicks in the 



The seeds are about the size and in colour not unlike the 



The leaf-stalks 



the grass, and bougainvilleas like a crimson and lilac veil over the rnof 

 and verandah— colour, greenery, grace of leaf and of stem and Derfnnl 

 all around, but the best had yet to come. . Through a jungle of oaDvrnc 

 and over a willow pattern plate-like bridge, and my genial guide stood 

 aside to look at my face. Before me, through an opening in the reeds 

 which the stepping aside of my host had revealed, lay a long pool or canal 

 full of tropical water lilies, fair as a dream, white rose, peach blue and 

 crimson, all with swelling bud or with wide open blossoms, still wet'with 

 dew, lay basking like naiads in the early sunshine of a tropic day One 

 great floating mass of the Australian Blue Lotus (Nymph^ea gigantea) 

 with "flowers as big- as soup nlates " {vide Mrs. Rowan's " * ni - ' 



temples. 



They are even more deli- 



cate than almonds in flavour, and are eaten either raw or cooked, and 

 roasted, or in various confections. 



The old Egyptian method ot sowing the seeds of the Nelumbium was 

 to wrap each seed up by rolling around it a flattened ball of stiff clay, 

 which, when thrown into the water, sank and carried the seed to the bads, the 



flowers as big as soup plates 

 Hunter," a delightful book of an 



I shall never 



A Plant 



artist's life in Australia), made an 

 impression on me I shall never forget. But better even than this was a 

 water grove of Nelumbia, consisting of at least ten or twelve distinct 

 varieties of N. speciosum, collected from all parts of India and China. 



leaves 



on slender stalks, for 



bottom of tank or pool, and it shows how slowly customs alter, or else from 

 whence the custom originally came, since the self-same method is em- 

 ployed in India and in China to-day. A friend tells me that one of the 

 sights from the walls of Can- 

 ton, Pekin, and other Chinese 

 cities and towns is the watery 

 moats and pools or canals 

 covered with the platter-like 

 leaves and soft white, cream, 



or rosy flowers of the Nelum- 

 bium. 



The open, parasol-like foli- 

 age of this plant is covered 

 with a layer of the finest and 

 softest hairs or down, which 

 give an exquisitely soft, velvety 

 appearance to them. At night 

 the dew is condensed in or on 

 these fresh, soft green platters, 

 and when the sun rises the 

 •drops glitter like molten silver, 

 or sparkle like diamonds, and 

 the same thine- takes 



There they stood before me, soft green 



all the world like parasols, and amongst these the shapely swelling 



and the great chalice or 



buds, 



opening Duas, ana the great chalice or saucer-shaped 

 flowers, each with a jewelled dewdrop or two at its heart. 

 I had never seen or known how exquisitely lovely, how incomprehensibly 

 variable aod satisfying the Nelumbium alone in broad groups or masses 



could be. Flowers and buds 

 by the hundred towering high 

 up above the placid water, as 

 if soaring* to kiss the sun 



had seen 



place 



the 



same thing 

 in the open chalices of 

 flowers. If a leaf be touched 

 ever so gently the dewdrops 

 run about like quicksilver and 

 reflect the sun's rays like 

 precious stones. Hence comes 

 the Eastern proverb that the 

 good and virtuous man is like 

 the leaf of the Lo:us, which 

 growing in mud and slime, or 

 dirty 'water, is always clean. 

 So the upright man is not 

 affected by the dirty waters of 

 temptation, from which he 

 emerges with pure hands and 

 a clean heart 



In the Fiench Salon of 

 1885 I wa s much struck by 

 M. E. Richtei's picture, nobly 

 painted, of a dainty Persian 

 Jady fondling a lute with one 

 hand, while she contemplates 

 a flower of Nymphaea Lotus 

 held in the other. " Sweetness 

 and light," personified in lovely 

 woman and in lovely flower, 

 ^the jewel in the Lotus, " Om 

 mam padme hum 



It is one of the delights of 

 one's existence in the tropics 

 to see Nelumbium speciosum 

 in bud and bloom in the fresh 

 cool morning air. 



1 



soaring 



above their heads, 

 the 



I 



great Victoria regalis at 

 Chatsworth and at Kew, and 

 the tropical water lily tank or 

 pools at Oxford and in the 

 Regent's 

 stunted 



in 



but how 



how 



Park, 



and starved, 

 " cribbed, cabined, and con- 

 fined " under the glass roofs, 



with Nature's 



as compared 

 luxuriance as assisted 



by art 

 When 



in an open-air garden, 

 the gong went for breakfast I 

 felt loath to leave the lilies and 

 the Lotus before me, but the 

 sun had mounted higher, the 



that had 



pearly 

 shone 



baskets 



in 



dewdrops 

 " like jewels of 



of silver " 



and 

 and 



aporated, here 



gold 

 had 

 there 



petals hung limp 

 in the torrid glare. My 

 led me into a cool and shady 



placid 

 host 



room, half open 

 and set before me a breakfast 

 such as is not often enjoyed 

 by princes or kings. All that 

 money and taste and genuine 

 hospitality could devise was 

 there — a cool and 



to the sky, 



atmosphere 

 bhade. The 



fragrant 

 grateful 

 butter looked 



and 



if it had just 



dairy, and 



as 



Devonshire 

 fish and 



of 



left a 

 the 



rice, 



cool 



and the 

 cucumbers, 



the 



curry 01 young 

 the iced coffee, 

 fruit, all of the finest, seemed 



* • 



and 



want 



away 



NELUMBIUM SPECIOSUM. 

 Showing Habit of Plant. 



not to 



melted 

 the tongue, 

 many things, 

 flowers, and 

 the inimitable 



the cheroot, 

 host and 



eating, 

 easily 

 talked 



they 



so 



We 

 mainly 

 then 



on 

 of 

 of the 



and 



genial 

 will 



be 



I 



rose, and there was 

 Palms and bamboos and 



pergola, on which stephanotis, 



or 



I have seen many beautiful tropical flowers in the 

 open air and under God's blue sky, but I shall never forget getting up at 

 or before gun-fire in Singapore, in order to drive out and breakfast with 

 Consul Whampoa, C.M.G., at his residence on the outskirts of the city, 

 reached the entrance of his compound as the sun 

 dew on every leaf, and stalk, and 



bananas towered overhead. Over the walk was a covered way, 



_ f , ( -t , allamanda, Thunbergia, jasmine, and 



other tragrant stove shrubs and climbers were trained here neatly and 



S a t nd V? ere dangling in wild and luxuriant abandon and profusion 

 dr?ril, c ° ^ ¥° nnd St , ifflia ch rysantha, ixoras, crotons, coloured 

 sofSftf Ar?w red - st c emmed Palms caught and held the eye, and all the 

 aUsnfre h.n and S "T atra > of In ^ia and Ceylon, nutmeg and cinnamon, 

 temv Y^?~* f "dalwood, patchouli and champaca was wafted on the 

 balmy breezes of early morning. But for the loud-voiced welcome 



least so long as gratitude and a love 



a _ 



that will for ever 

 tographed in my heart, 

 of the beautiful m Nature 



came 



cup of tea 

 and I left 

 garden 



pho- 

 at 



remain. 



t. 



Nymphaea 

 4,469, but 



Lotus was figured in the 

 also vol. 



- . 80, L 4,823. 



Nelumbium speciosum was figured in 



903 



Botanical Magazine, vol. 75> 

 the Botanical Afagazine, vol. 



v-'jj uuucr us 01a name ot JNeiumDo nuLiiao. ■ , pCf 



The Eastern Lotus has been well described as being ' the noblest 

 flower that dedicates its beauty to the sun," and it has been for a^es inc 



iiuwcx uidi ucuicates its beauty to tne sun,' anu n u«w - -? ilit 



symbol in the East everywhere of love and beauty and joyful lert my. 

 From Pekin to Thibet, from Colombo to Teheran, and the fertile pla ns 

 of Cashmere, it is the sign of the highest life and beauty-. E*c« i «e 

 disciples of the Prophet love and admire its grace and bloom, but to 



Hindoo and Buddhist it is the shrine of shrines 

 the 



The holiest as 



ell as 

 liquid 



forcotten no t a on"i'v'l, PaCkof i 0aSedo « s 1 shodd have, likethe Lotus eaters 



Chinaman himself came out mi =L V ^ * 

 rarest livino- naime , J showed me his garden— orcnias 01 me 



SaX 



W and L bri/h? ° U , gh tob^gn. caladiums with painted leaves as 

 arge and as bright as coloured pocket-handkerchiefs, zephyr flowers in 



gem 

 may b; 



most lovely of flowers, a ray of golden sunlight resting C« 

 K Ev -J-here in Thibet you hear ^C^rgj «gj> « « ^ «J j 



i • T r»tHS. on 



"Om mani padme hum/' the - Allah il Allah' ot tne ^ 

 tii padme hum." or « uisL oh hail" " the jewel in he Lotus, 



Then the genial old 



orchids of the 



'•Om mani padme hum," or " Hail, oh hail, n> J 6 " 1 """ , on t he 

 the hps of men, women, and children ; even written and bouna u 



used by Theophrastus 



prayer- wheels— it is everywhere. 

 , The word "Lotus" is an old Greek 



(B.C. 374-235), and Dioscnrides (A.D. 40) 



, - - - Dioscorides (a.d. 



legummose plant not now exactly known 



name 



in 

 The 



connection with «** 



_ i._:~k» <roli! en Utile 



bright g 



