Nelumbo

Nelumbo (Nelumbium), a genus of aquatic plants included by some botanists in the natural order Nymphaeaceæ (q.v.); but by others constituted into an order, Nelumbiaceæ, differing in the want of albumen in the seed, and in the distinct carpels, which are buried in the cavities of a large fleshy receptacle. The flowers and leaves are very similar to those of water-lilies. The species are few, and are found in the warm parts of Asia, in the north of Africa, and in North America. They are all distinguished by the beauty of their flowers. N. speciosum is the Egyptian Bean of Pythagoras, the Lotus and Tamara of the Hindus, and the Lien-Hoa of the Chinese. By the ancients it was regarded as the emblem of fertility; with it the Egyptians decorated the heads of their idols Isis and Osiris. The Hindus hold it sacred, and with them it is the floating shell of Vishnu and the throne of Brahma. The Tibetans embellished their temples and altars with it. It is also much esteemed and cultivated in China and elsewhere in the East for its seeds, roots, leaf-stalks, and flower-stalks, all of which are eaten. It has been used as food by the Egyptians from remote antiquity. The seeds are in size and shape like acorns, with a taste more delicate than that of almonds. The root contains much starch, and a kind of arrowroot may be obtained from it; and powdered it makes excellent soup with milk or water. Great quantities are pickled with salt and vinegar, and eaten with rice. The flowers are generally rose-coloured, seldom white. The ancient Egyptian mode of sowing this plant, by enclosing each seed in a ball of clay and throwing it into the water, is practised at the present day in India.—N. luteum is a North American species, with yellow flowers, extending almost as far north as Philadelphia. The farinaceous roots are agreeable when boiled.