NAT. ORDER. — NYMPHIACEiE. 
49 
proper Lotos, has obtained a relig-ious reverence. It is remarkable 
that neither Herodotus nor Theophrastus, the most ancient writers by 
which it is described, have attrihuted any sacred character to it, but 
speak of it as only used as food by the Eg-yptians. Both root and 
seeds are esculent, sapid and wholesome. They are accounted cool- 
ing- and streng-thening-, and to be of service in extreme thirst, diarrhoea, 
tenesmus, vomiting" and too g-reat internal heat. In China it is called 
Lienwha, and the seeds and slices of the hairy root, with the kernels 
of apricots and walnuts, and alternate layers of ice were frequently 
presented to the British Ambassador and his suite at breakfasts g-iven 
by some of the principal Mandarins. The roots are laid up by the 
Chinese in salt and vinegar for winter use. Sir Georg-e Staunton re- 
marks that the leaf, besides its common uses, has from its structure, 
g-rowing- entirely round the stalk, the advantag-e of defending- the 
flower and fruit arising- from its centre from contact with the water^ 
which mig'ht injure them. He also remarks that the stem never fails 
to ascend in the water, let the depth be ever so great, unless in a case 
of sudden inundation, until it attains the surface, when its leaf expands, 
rests upon it and often rises above it. Many varieties of this plant 
are distinguished by the Chinese ; one of them with pure-white flow- 
ers, and another having about an hundred petals white or rose-colored. 
From the root of the JVehimbo, Sir George Staunton says, the Egyp- 
tians are supposed to have prepared their Colocasia, but as the plant 
is no longer to be found wild in that country, from which circumstance 
some naturaHsts infer that it never was indigenous there, but culti- 
vated by the inhabitants with extreme care. The ancient Romans 
made repeated efforts to raise it from seeds brought out of Egypt. Dr. 
Patrick Browne is of the opinion that the ancients confounded two 
plants under the name of Lotos or LJgyptian-bean, and that under these 
titles they described the upper parts of the JVelumbium and the roots 
of Caladium Colocasia, now commonly called Coccos, in Jamaica. 
Thunberg says that it is considered as a sacred plant in Japan, and 
pleasing to their deities, and that the images of their idols were often 
