The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-07-09
TIE SACRED LOTUS BLOWER.
The Famous Flower OF the Nile Grow
ing in Chatham County.

ing in Chatham county.
Tb,. MORNING NEWS referred quite re-
cently to the fact that there are many
snecinens of wild plants growing IN this
section which would, if utilized, add to the
ornamentation of the lawn and the flower
garden. and among other beautiful plants,
the lotus was mentioned
Samples Of the lotus fruit and flower
have since been brought to the MORNING
NEWS editorial rooms by Mr.. Gugie Bour-
min. and they have attracted the attention
of all who have seen them. their rich golden
vellow flower, with its inner crown
frinoed with delicate stamens, showering
GOLD dust about it. and filling the room with
2 snbdued perfume. The fruit pods are the
crown of gold advanced to maturity. and
are of an emerald color, the fruit, or nut,
having the appearance of an acorn. They
ore edible. and have a pleasant flavor in
which there is faint taste like new milk.
In one of these emerald pods thirteen acorns
are lodged in the cells of the crown, and in
another there are nine acorns. A pecul
iarity of the lotus pods, it is said, is that
there is always an odd number of cells in
them.
Mr.. Bourquin, who has made consider
able research in the wild flowers of this
section. Says do ldA % nO neA9 OCCh oOAC W
determine the lotus grows In but two sec
tions of the United States, the sacred or
golden lotus in Chatham county, and the
red lotus in Jamaica pond, New York.
The lotus is known to abound in this
county only in Raspberry swamp and its
tributaries and the backwater near by.
The flower and fruit which have suggested
this article were gathered by Mr.. Bourquin
last Sunday in Raspberry swamp in
Devils woodward, one of Mr.. Bourquin's
plantations, about eight miles dis
tant from Savannah. 1t is an aquatic
plant, growing up out of
the water, sometimes to the hight of five
feet. The leaves have the appearance of
the foliage of the water lily. Among the
colored people the fruit Of the lotus is
known as the water chincapin" The
lotus usually blooms in this climate about
July l, and continues to bloom until Aug.
/, but this year the plants began to bloom
June !, and tho fruit began to ripen July /.
The extreme warm weather of June
dwarfed the pod SO that the diameter at the
top of the largest specimen obtained does
not exceed four inches, when they hav Q
been known to be twice as large.
The lotus can be adapted to lawn decora-
ton by sinking half-barrel in the lawn
and keeping the roots of the lotus sub
merged. The lotus can of course be grown
with less trouble in basins supplied by
fountains, and their luxuriant leaves, rich
golden and fragant flowers and succeeding
crowns ofemerald will amply repay the time
and attention required.
There is no little conjecture as to how the
sacred lotus, which is indigenous to the Nile,
came to be propagated here. The generally
accepted theory is that the wild fowl, which
feed with avidity upon the acorns or nuts of
the lotus, brought the fruit from the Nile in
their migrations, and it is not an impossible
theory, for the flight of some species is SO
rapid that the theory, in the absence of a
better one, will be accepted by many.
The species growing in this county is the
1letunlbtunl SpectoSunl in the anthology of
the ancients sacred to Osiris and Isis, and
in Egyptian delineations signitied tho worlds
creation. The sacred lotus and the blue
lotus, both Indigenous to the Nile, occur in
the decorations upon ancient Egyptian re-
mains, and are favorite subjects for Chinese
art.
There are many species of the lotus, and
the lotus eaters have formed a fruitful sub
ject for the poets, from the days of Homer
to Tennyson. 1t has not yet been agreed
whether the lotus eaters ate Of the fruit of
highland shrub or the nut of the sacred
lotus, and authors and travellers have not
not yet been able to agree upon which Of the
many species of the lotus brought about the
dreamy and contented state, where those.
far from home, if they once ate of the lotus
wished never again to depart for their ma
tive land.
Tennyson's poem, the Lotus Eaters. - is
probably the most exquisitely wrought in
It's dellneatlon OF the forgetfulness of home
In the lassltude which succeeds the eating
of the lotus fruit. and if he sought to hold
to one species of the lotus more than the
other as the true lotus, it is certainly the
aquatic plant The stanza which follows
certainly describes the sacred lotus, and the
scene OF the visit Of the lotus eaters is on the
water:
The charmed sunset fingered low adown
IN The red west; thro' mountain clefts the
dale
Was seen far inland, and the yellow down
bordered with palm and many a winding
And meadow set with slender galingale:
a land where all things always seem the
same,
And round about the keel with faces pale.
5 DARK faces pale against that rosy flame,
Inc miIo'eyed melancholy lotus-eaters came.
And again, what other than the aquatic
lotus could be intended in this stanzaf-
The lotus blooms below the barren peak.
Inc lotus blooms by every winding creek:
All day the wind hreathes low with mellow tone
through every hollow cave and alley lone.
i'ouhd q. ana round the spicy downs and yellow
lotus dust is blown.
we have had enough of action, and of motion
We
Rolled to starboard, rolled to larboard when the
surge was seething free.
where the wallowing monster spouted his foam.
fountains in the sea- -
Let us swear an oath and keep it, with an equal
mind, ~ 0 odUoi
In the hollow lotus land to live and lie reclned
1t may be only poetic license to attrib-
ute lassltude and reposefulness to those
VINO eat OF the fruit of the lotus, but il has
counterpart on the plantation, where
Unere is saying that 'niggah what eat de
""Vah chlncapln no good in de rice fiel'.n