THE “LOTOS OF THE ANCIENTS. 
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seed-vessel is ripe and the petals fall off. It is said that in 
the Euphrates both the seed-vessel and the petals sink down 
into the water from the evening until midnig'ht to a great 
depth, so that the hand cannot reach them ; at daybreak they 
emerge, and as day comes on they rise above the water ; at 
sunrise the flowers open, and when fully expanded they rise up 
still higher, and present the appearance of a very double flower ” 
(Theophrastus). “ The Lotos which grows in Egypt, in the 
water of the inundated plains, has a stem like that of the 
Egyptian bean (Kyamos). The flower is small and white like 
the lily, which is said to expand at sunrise, and to close at 
sunset. It is also said that the seed-vessel is then entirely hid 
in the water, and that at sunrise it emerges again ” (Dioscorides). 
After describing the arborescent Lotos, Pliny states “ there is 
also an herb of the same name, and in Egypt it grows up with 
an herbaceous stem, as a marsh plant. When the inundating 
waters of the Nile retire, it comes up with the stem like 
the Egyptian bean, with the petals crowded thick and close, 
only shorter and narrower. There is a further circumstance 
related concerning this plant of a very remarkable nature, that 
the poppy-like flowers close up with the setting sun, the petals 
entirely covering the seed-vessel ; but at sunrise they open 
again, and so on, till they become ripe, and the blossom, which 
is white, falls off.” Athenseus states that they grow in the lakes 
in the neighbourhood of Alexandria, and blossom in the heat 
of summer. He also mentions a rose-coloured and a blue 
variety. “ I know that in that fine city they have a crown 
called Antinoean, made of the plant which is there named 
Lotos, which plant grows in the lakes in the heat of summer, 
and there are two colours of it ; one of them is the colour of a 
rose, of which the Antinoean crown is made ; the other is called 
Lotinos, and has a blue flower.” 
An aquatic plant, with double, poppy-like flowers, expanding 
in the morning and closing at night — 
Those virgin lilies all the night 
Bathing their beauties in the lake, 
That they may rise more fresh and bright 
When their beloved sun’s awake — 
either white, blue, or rose-coloured, points clearly to a nym- 
phseaceous plant, closely allied to our own white water-lily ; 
and this is further strengthened by the description of the 
fruit. 
“ These (Lotos) they gather and dry in the sun ; then they 
pound what is obtained from the middle of the flower, which is 
like a poppy-head, and make it into leaves, which they bake ” 
(Herodotus). “ The size of the seed-vessel is equal to that of 
