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This lotus (Nymphaea Lotus) is to be distinguished from the Cyrenaean lotus (cf. 96. 1 and iv. 177 n.), which is that of Homer. It is of two kinds, the white and the blue; it was actually cultivated for food. Theophrastus (H. P. iv. 8) describes the method of obtaining ‘the fruit’; he, like H., compares the head (κωδύα) in size to ‘the poppy’ (μήκωνι) and the root to a ‘quince’ (μῆλον). The lotus was used in the ritual of the dead, and so became a symbol of immortality.

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