NELUMBIUM SPECIOSUM. Willde.
Tho-kyah, . . BERM. Bakla kubti, . . Pans.
Kamala, Padma, HIND. Pubbun, . . . SIND. Nilofar, . . . . PERS. Tamara, . . TAM., TEL.
The lotus, sacred, Egyptian, or Pythagorean bean, has two varieties—(a) rubrum, the Rakto palwp of Bengal, with rose-coloured flowers, and („ the Shwet-padmo, with white flowers. It grows throughout the East Indies, also in Persia, Tibet, China, North Australia, and Japan.
The leaves and flowers of the plants spring from beneath the waters, and in Kashmir the broad leaves form a verdant carpet, over which the water-hen runs. In the hot weather, the stalks are very commonly eaten by the poorer classes, and boiled in their curries. The flowers are a favour ite offering at the Hindu and Burmese p.agodas. The fruit is believed to have been the Egyptian bean of Pythagoras, and the flower that mystic lotus which so often occurs on the monuments of Egypt and India. The stalks are, in Hindi, called Ranwal kukri, Nan wal gatha, and Nairn bheng. The long fine filaments contained within the cells of the stem are drawn out, and the thread spun from the filament is used as the wicks of the lamps in pagodas. The lotus is highly venerated by the Hindus, but it is the more immediate attribute of Vishnu from being the prime of aquatic vegetables, and he a personi fication of water. It is also peculiarly sacred to
Lakshini, the wife of Vishnu, who is sometimes called Kamala, or lotus-like ; it is, moreover, an emblem of female beauty. The new-blown flowers of the rose-coloured lotus have an agreeable fra grance; those of the white and yellow have less odour. In China, the nelumbium covers exten sive marshes in the Eastern and Northern Pro vinces, otherwise unsightly and barren. The root is two or three feet long, and pierced longi tudinally with several holes ; when boiled, it is of a yellowish colour and sweetish taste, not un like turnip. Its boiled roots are eaten in Kashmir as a pot-herb by the natives; in Lahore they are called Pe, in Kashmir Nadru. Taro is there used less than the uelumbium, and so are the water caltrops and water-chestnuts ; the broad leaves are used as dishes to eat from, and the flowers as offerings.
N. cierulenin, Fisch., the blue-flowered sacred bean, grows in Lower Egypt and in Sind. It was held sacred in Egypt. It is a variety of Nelumbium speciosurn.—Murray.