THE LOTE OR LOTOS OF THE ANCIEKTS. 
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Peduncles axillary, much longer than the leaves, usually two-flowered. Floivers small, 
yellow. Calycine segments lanceolate, longer than the tube, but shorter than the corolla. 
Corolla yellow. Legumes usually twin, long and torulose. It is a native of Piedmont 
and about Nice, where it grows abundantly. 
The Lotos of Italy is one of the ebony-wood trees, called in our catalogues 
Diospyros Lotus; it is also known by the names of Date Plum and European Lote. 
It forms in the south of Europe a deciduous tree upwards of 30 feet in height. The 
leaves are oblong, acuminated, downy beneath, and slightly so on the upper surface. 
The leaf-hids are hairy inside. The flouters are small and reddish-white ; and the fruit 
attains the size of a cherry, is yellow when fully ripe, and is then sweet, with considerable 
astringency. 
This tree is a native of the western parts of the Caucasus, the Woods of Hyrcania, 
and the whole coast of the Caspian, Italy, and the Mauritania. The v?ood of old trees of 
this and several other species, becomes excessively hard, and is introduced to us under 
the name of Ebony, being very black, and taking a good polish. The plant was intro- 
duced in 1596, and grows freely in the open air. 
The Lotos of Hippocrates is a species of Nettle-Tree, a native of the south of 
Europe, called Celtis australis; it is, however, well known by the appellation of Lote 
Tree, and is reckoned among the largest timber trees in the European Woods ; and the 
wood, too, is one of the hardest with which we are acquainted, and it is also very tough 
and flexible. The leaves are of a cheerful light green colour ; and the fruit are about the 
size of a wild cherry, yellow at first, but when quite ripe, of a glossy black. The flavour 
also is very pleasant. It is said that in France the forked branches are peeled, and made 
into hayforks, and are used for various agricultural purposes. The discovery of this plant 
being the Lotos of Hippocrates, is attributable to Tournefort, and the description 
appears to agree in every respect. 
The fourth plant called Lotos by the ancients, is the Zizyphus Lotus of our Cata- 
logues, the Rhamnus Lotus of Linn, and Mungo Park, and the Jujube Lotus of some 
authors ; a species belonging to the Natural Order, Bhamnacece. And this is generally 
behoved to be — 
The True Lotos of the Lotophagi. — This plant is a native of Persia, and the 
interior of Africa, in the kingdom of Tunis, especially in a tract called Jereed, Sicily, and 
Spain. The Arabic name of it is Nehbek, and two sorts are described as growing at 
Daufoor: one forms a considerable-sized thorny tree, and is called Nebbek-el-Arab ; the 
other is our present shrub, which the Arabs Imow better by the provincial name of 
Seedra ; the fruit of this are smaller, of a darker colour, and much better flavour than 
those borne by the tree. The natives eat these both fresh and dried ; they are generally 
left to dry on the trees, where they hang without injury during the greater part of the 
winter; they then have a very delicious flavour, and being formed into a paste, are used as 
provision on journeys, and much relished. 
The Zizyphus Lotus, in its native countries, forms a deciduous shrub 3 or 4 feet high. 
The habit is that of a Rhamnus. The leaves are small, alternate, ovate-oblong, slightly 
crenated, blunt, smooth, three-nerved. Prickles twin, one recurved, the other straight, 
longer than the petioles, situated in the axils of the leaves. Flowers small, solitary, 
axillary, resembling those of Z. vulgaris or Common Jujube. Fruit a drupe, round, the 
size of a wild cherry, very sweet, with a slight and pleasant acid, yellow when ripe, and 
occasionally tinged with purple. Pulp farinaceous, easily separated from the stone, 
resembling that of figs or- dates. Seeds inclosed in a small, round, bony, two-celled nucleus. 
The plant was introduced to this country in 1731, and is said to be found in the Eastern 
as well as the Western extremity of the African Desert, and Major Kennel thinks he has 
seen it on the Ganges. Dr. Shaw found the fruit common in Barbary, where it is sold in 
the markets in all the southern district. Cattle are also fed with it, and a liquor is 
extracted which will inebriate and is much esteemed, but will not keep. Mr. Mungo Park 
found the plant common in all the kingdoms of Africa which he visited ; but it has been 
thought that the kind he saw at the Gambia is another species, and not Z. Lotus. 
VOL. I, NO. IX. 0 0 
