NYMPHiEA NELUMBO.— THE LOTUS OF INDIA. 
Class XIII. POLYANDRIA.— Order VI. POLYGYNIA. 
Natural Order, NYMPH^ACE^. THE WATER-LILY TRIBE* 
Carpels many, distinct, and half immersed in the profoundly honey-combed obconical, elevated torus, each 
hearing a style with a solitary seed in each carpel which is exarillate, and destitute of albumen. Flowers 
large shewy, white, red, or yellow. Both leaves and flowers rising above the surface of the water. 
The Trunk of the root horizontal, fleshy, white, sending out many fibres from the under surface. 
Petioles long, rising beyond the surface of the water, scabrous with acute tubercles. 
Leaves large, 1 or 2 feet in diameter, exactly peltate in the .centre, orbicular entire, glabrous, 
under surface palest, margins somewhat waved. Peduncles longer than the petioles, erect, scabrous. 
Flowers large, emulating Pcebnia and Papaver , white or red. Fruit resembling an instrument once used in 
play by the French, by the very antique name Lotos (D. C.) It was known to the Greeks, and is said by 
Herodotus, Theophrastus, and others, to be a native of Egypt, but no modern traveller has observed it in 
that country. There can, however, be no doubt of its having actually existed there, either naturally or 
cultivated, since the terms in which it is described by those authors are too clear and decisive to be mis- 
taken, and their accounts are confirmed by ancient Egyptian sculptures and mosaics, which are still pre- 
served, and testify that from the earliest times it, as well as the proper Lotos, has obtained a religious re- 
verence. It is remarkable that neither Herodotus nor Theophrastus, the most ancient writers by which it 
is described, have attributed any sacred character to it, but speak of it as only used as food by the Egyp- 
tians. Both root and seeds are esculent, sapid and wholesome. They are accounted cooling and strength- 
ening, and to be of service in extreme thirst, diarrhoea, tenesmus, vomiting, and too great 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 given by some of the principal Mandarins. The roots are laid up by the Chinese in salt and 
vinegar for the winter. Sir George Staunton remarks that the leaf besides its common uses, has, from its 
structure, growing entirely round the stalk, the advantage of defending the flower and fruit arising from its 
centre from contact with the water, which might injure them. He also remarks that the stem never fails 
to ascend in the water from whatever depth, unless in a case of sudden inundation, until it attains the sur- 
face, when its leaf expands, rests upon it, and often rises above it. Many varieties of the plant are dis- 
tinguished by the Chinese; one of them with pure-white flowers, and another having about an hundred 
petals white or rose-coloured. From the root of the Nelumbo Sir George Staunton says the Egyptians are 
supposed to have prepared their Colocasia, but the plant is no longer to be found wild in that country, 
from which circumstance some naturalists infer that it never was indigenous there, but cultivated by the 
inhabitants with extreme care. The ancient Romans made repeated efforts to raise it among them from 
seeds brought out of Egypt. Dr. Patrick Browne is of opinion that the ancients confounded two plants 
under the name of Lotos or Egyptian-bean, and that under these titles they described the upper parts of the 
Nelumbium 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 drawn sitting on its large leaves. Loureiro relates that it abounds in muddy marshes in 
India and China, and is cultivated in large handsome pots in the gardens and houses of the Mandarins. 
The Chinese have always held this plant in such high value, that at length they regarded it as sacred. The 
seeds are somewhat of the size and form of an acorn, and of a taste more delicate than that of almonds. 
The ponds in India and China are literally covered with the plant, and exhibit a very showy appearance 
when it is in flower, and the flowers are no less fragrant than handsome. The leaves grow out of the water, 
and do not float upon it, as is usual with the rest of the tribe. It is the Pythagorean bean of the 
ancients, and has been regarded from the most remote periods as an emblem of fertility. Perhaps many 
species are confused under N. specibsum. 
The flowers of the Lotus are often blue, and in speaking of the Spirit of Love, a great authority says: — 
His floating eyes — Oh ! they resemble, 
Blue water-lilies when the breeze, 
Is making the stream around them tremble.f 
* We are indebted for the annexed figure to Mr. James Smith’s “ Exotic Botany.” 
fLalla Rookh. 
