240 THE ASSOCIATIONS OF FLOWERS 
is too rare and too ornamental to be applied to any pur- 
pose of this kind. Its roots fix themselves at the bed of 
the stream; and the plant is easily propagated — it being 
necessary only to throw the roots into the water. 
The yellow water-lily (Nuphar lutea), called by country 
people brandy-bottle, on account of its odour, often grows 
on the same stream as the white lily; but it is far more 
frequent. Its flower is not so full of petals as the white 
kind, and not nearly so handsome; yet, floating upon its 
long stems, and decked with its large leaf, which is so 
smooth that the water runs off it, it is very pretty. The 
roots are nutritious, and are frequently powdered and 
eaten for bread in Sweden. It is said that, mingled with 
the bark of the Scotch fir, they form a cake much relished 
by the Swedes; but it might possibly be less agreeable 
to our palates. They are also burnt on the hearths of 
farm-houses, because their smoke is reputed to drive away 
the crickets, whose chirping is sometimes too loud and 
shrill to be deemed musical. Many country people, how- 
ever, regard the crickets as “little harbingers of good,” 
and would not permit the lily root to be burned to their 
annoyance. 
The water - lily of the East — the Nymphaea — ^though 
much resembling our “ flower made of light, ’ ’ is still more 
beautiful; and it enlivens the streams of India, Africa, 
and some parts of America with its rich blossoms, which 
are sometimes blue or red, as well as white. It is called 
Lotus, and is said to sink quite below the water in the 
evening and night. Thus, Moore says of it : 
“ 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.” 
In Egypt it abounds on the streams; and the Egyptians 
represent the dawn of dav by a youth seated on its flower, 
and consecrate its blossoms to Osiris — the sun. 
The Chinese have a beautiful and odoriferous water-lily 
called the Leenhwa; and, its root being nutritious, it is 
made by them into cakes. 
The Eastern lotus, or water-lily, is powerfully fragrant ; 
