Lotus

a name applied to at least three water lilies: the yellow nelumbo or water chinquapin of India, North Africa, and the United States as far northwest as Minnesota; the blue water-lily; and the large white water-lily of the Nile. The last named is the lotus of the Nile. It was the favorite flower of Egypt. The peasants ate the root. Ladies carried the flower for its fragrance, and architects shaped the capitals of columns to represent the flowerbud. It is now to be found only in pools of the Delta, and in the upper waters of the Nile. The nelumbo or Indian lotus was the symbol of female beauty among the Chinese, and was a sacred flower among the Hindus, whose idols were seated on a lotuslike throne. See Water Lily

Lotus-eaters, a name given by Homer to a tribe on the northern coast of Africa who lived on the berries of the lotus tree or shrub. The plant is in no way related to the lotus water lily. The natives also made a sweet wine from its fruit. Ulysses and his companions, on their return from the siege of Troy, were kindly entertained by these people, but, eating the fruit of the lotus, they lost all ambition and all desire to seek their native land. A "lotus eater," then, is one whose delight in foreign pleasures has deprived him of a desire to return. The term is applied also to one who in dreamy, absent-minded contemplation of air castles forgets home affairs and everyday duties.