Nelumbium
(Nelumbo is the Cingalese name of N. speciosum). Sacred, or Water Bean. SYN. Cyamus. ORD. Nymphaeaceae. This genus comprises only a couple of species of beautiful greenhouse or nearly hardy aquatic plants, of which one is American and the other Asiatic or Australian. Flowers on long stalks, traversed by a number of air-canals, regularly disposed; corolla of numerous deciduous petals, arranged in several rows; "the stamens are numerous in several rows, attached with the petals to the base of the receptacle; the stigma is sessile; the receptacle or torus is in form like a funnel; and the ovaries, which are numerous, are placed in sockets on the upper surface" (Masters). Leaves peltate, on the summit of long cylindrical leaf-stalks, springing from an elegant horizontal rootstock. The species thrive in a compost of rich loam and well-decomposed manure. Under glass the rhizomes may be placed a few inches, or a foot or more, beneath the surface of the water; in warm tanks or ponds outside there should be, at least, a foot of water above them. They are admirably suited for large aquaria, under glass, and would, probably, thrive in tanks in the open air in the South of England. In the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, a large circular tank, sunk below the level of the ground, is planted with N. speciosum, and forms a very attractive feature of the gardens during summer. In autumn, after the leaves have died off, a glass cover is placed over the tank, and throughout winter a covering of straw, or some other protecting material, as well. In spring the latter is removed, and afterwards the glass cover, when growth has sufficiently advanced, and all danger of frost has passed.
N. luteum (yellow).* fl. yellow, fragrant, resembling a double Tulip, very large, sometimes spreading out more than 1ft. in diameter; anthers drawn out beyond the cells into a linear appendage. July. l. of a peculiar bluish-green, 12in. to 15in. in diameter. West Indies and Southern United States, 1810. (B. M. 3753.) N. speciosum (showy).* Egyptian Bean of Pythagoras. fl. white, rosy-tipped, very fragrant, about 1ft. in diameter; anthers drawn out beyond the cells into a club-shaped appendage; peduncles longer than the petioles, erect, scabrous. Summer. l. large, 1ft. to 2ft. in diameter, exactly peltate in the centre, orbicular-entire, glabrous, under surface palest; margins somewhat waved; petioles long, rising beyond the surface of the water, scabrous with acute tubercles. Trunk of the root horizontal, fleshy, white, sending out many fibres from the under surface. Asia, 1787. A beautiful aquatic, which should be grown in tubs, and placed in shallow water. It thrives in warm sheltered tanks in the open during summer. This plant has been regarded from the most remote periods as the emblem of fertility. (B. M. 903, 3916, 3917.) There are several varieties of this species.