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•' Flora Londinensis,” of Hooker, I find the following inter¬ 
esting “ memoir" of this exquisite flower :— 
“ This truly beautiful plant, Avhich may vie with the most splendid 
productions of the tropics, is familiar to every one, how little soever 
skilled in scientific botany, as an inhabitant of still pools and slug¬ 
gish streams in almost every part of Great Britain. But it is in the 
little bays and inlets, the quiet I'ecesses of Alpine lakes, that it is seen 
in the greatest perfection. On the banks of Loch Lomond, I have 
beheld acres literally covered with this lovely plant, which almost 
conceals the water with its large dark green floating leaves ; these, 
again, forming an admirable contrast to the pure white of the blos¬ 
soms, which rise just above them. In Holland, perhaps, only does 
the Nymphffia, there called the White Rose of the Waters, occur in 
greater profusion, where the canals are bordered and almost choked 
with it for miles ; and its increasing so rapidly as to impede naviga¬ 
tion is only prevented by the practice of cutting down the stems ot 
the Water-Lilies twice every year. This plant blossoms in the Sum¬ 
mer months, and the flow'ers are fully expanded in the middle of the 
day, closing in the afternoon, and sinking somewhat below the sur¬ 
face of the water during the night, which last fact, long reported, 
has finally been verified by Sir James Smith. 
“ Very similar to this species in the flow'er, but differing from it in 
the toothed leaves, is the Nympluca Lotus, the Lotus of the Egyp¬ 
tians, by which people, as w'ell as by the natives of India, it is held 
so sacred that the latter were seen to prostrate themselves on enter¬ 
ing the study of Sir William Jones, wdiere a flow'er of it chanced to 
be lying. The seeds, as well as the roots, are said to be eaten 
in those countries. From the leaves and flowers Sturm, in his 
Deutschland Flora, assures us that the Turkish ladies prepare an 
agreeable drink.” 
After so admirable a description I have little left to say of my 
favourite flower, which, in pm’e and stately beauty, is truly 
“ the Queen all flowers among,” the Empress of the River, 
the “ Lady of the Lake.” How few, if any, of our foreign 
