Lotus tree

The lotus tree (Greek: λωτός, lōtós) is a plant that is referred to in stories from Greek and Roman mythology.

The lotus tree is mentioned in Homer's Odyssey as bearing a fruit that caused a pleasant drowsiness, and which was said to be the only food of an island people called the Lotophagi or lotus-eaters. When they ate of the lotus tree, they would forget their friends and homes and would lose their desire to return to their native land in favor of living in idleness.^[1]

Botanical candidates for the lotus tree include the persimmon (

.

In Ovid's Metamorphoses,^[2] the nymph Lotis was the beautiful daughter of Neptune, the god of water and the sea. In order to flee the violent attention of Priapus, she invoked the assistance of the gods, who answered her prayers by turning her into a lotus tree.^[3]

The

King James Bible of 1881. However, it is otherwise rendered simply as "shady trees".^[6]

See also

• List of plants known as lotus
• Lotus (genus)
• Nymphaea lotus
• Lotus-eaters

References

1. ^ Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, page 526, by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer
2. ^ Elizabeth Washington Wirt, Flora's dictionary
3. ^ Richard Folkard, Plant lore, legends, and lyrics
4. ^ Quran 53:14
5. ^ צֶאֱלִים
6. ^ Barnes, Albert (1857). Notes, critical, illustrative, and practical, on the book of Job with a new translation, and an introductory dissertation. Vol. II. New York: Leavitt and Allen. p. 276. Retrieved 2014-09-15., or html.

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