The BRITISH HERBAL. 
DIVISION II. F O 
J. The Egyptian Lotus. 
Nymph^i foliis cordatis dentnlis. 
The root is very large, thick, and of an ob- 
long form, and covered with fibres. 
The leaves are fupported fingly on long, flen- 
der footftalks. 
They are very large, and of a heart-Fa(hioned 
fhapc i being deeply cut at the bafe, wh^rre they 
are broadcft, and thence fmaller to the end : they 
are Hiarply dcntated on the edges, and of a flefliy 
fubftance and bright green colour. 
Their footlfalks are Ic ^"'^s thofe of our 
Common mater-lillks ; and they are fmooth on the 
furface, and of a deep green. 
The flowers are large and white: they are fup- 
ported fingly on flender footftalks, much longer 
than thofe of the leaves, and .are compofed of 
many petals, placed in numerous feries, and fur- 
rounded by a cup compofed of four leaves, .as 
in the commnn it)hite water liiiy. 
The feed-veflel is very large, round, but 
drawn up to a neck at the top, and full of a 
fpungy matter, with many large feeds : the large 
cup remains with this, and is fpread out under 
it, in the manner of the rays of a ftar. 
Alpinus calls it Lotus JE^yftia ; a name moft 
authors have copied from him. Sir Hans Sloane, 
Nymph^n Indica fore candidoy folio in ambitu /er- 
rata. Others, Ambel. 
It is a native of Egypt, the Eaft Indies, and 
the hotter parts of America, and flowers in au- 
tumn. 
The root, which is of thefhape and fizeof a large 
egg, is a delicacy with the people of the Eafl:, and 
accounted a' very wholefome and delicate food ; 
they boil it, and eat it with the liquor. It is fo ex- 
tremely abundant in the Nile, that it fervcs as a 
kind of univerfal food to the poor, who have no- 
thing to do but go into the places where the wa" 
ter is ftialloweft, and take up in an hour or two 
food for many days for their families. 
REIGN SPECIES. 
2. Great red Water-lilly, called the iHgyptian bean. 
Nympbxa pediculis fpino/is fiore ruhenlc. 
The root is large, thick, and hung with nu- 
merous long fibres. 
The leaves are fupported on long footftalks, in 
the manner of thofe of the common 'water-lillies^ 
and are, like them, of a round form, and great 
bignefs ; but though they agree thus with the 
others in the general Hiape and mSnncr of appear- 
ing, they differ in very eftential particulars. 
The foot/lalks of the leaves are full uf fmall 
prickles, all pointing upwards , and the leaf it- 
felf is umbilicated ; the ftalk not being inferted 
at the edge, as in the others, but in the centre 
of the leaf. 
The flowers are very large, and of a bright 
and elegant red ; they are compofed of feveral 
feries of petals, and are fupported each on a long 
prickly footftalk, as the leaves. 
The fced-veffel is very large, and of a fingular 
form : it feems as if it had been cut off at the top, 
and there are in it feveral cells, each of which 
contains one feed. 
Thefe are as large as the biggeft filbert, and of 
a brownidi red colour on the outfide, but white 
within. 
The whole fruit is of a fpungy fubftance, and 
the feeds are foft. 
It is a native of the Eafl: Indies, and other 
warm quarters of the world. It flowers in July. 
Herman calls it Nymphiea Indica faha /Egyptia 
diSlo, flore incarnato. Others call it fimply, Faha 
JEgyftiaca ; and fome after its Eaftern name ne. 
lumbo. 
We fee the figure of this plant frequently in 
the Chinefe works on porcelain, and in their ja- 
pan, and many held it to be imaginary ; but 
later obfervations have ftiewn it to be the rcpre- 
fentation of a real plant, very common in their 
waters, and famlHarly known to the ancients. It 
is what all the old writers have meant by i'tizfaba 
^Egyptia. 
rhe E ND //jf T H I R T E E N T H CLASS. 
THE 
