Lotus tree

The Lotus Tree (Greek λωτός ) is mentioned several times in the ancient literature of unknown species determination.

In the appearing in Homer's Odyssey, consumed by the lotus eaters lotus it is probably the lotus flower, a busy already as food by the ancient Egyptians water plant and not the tree.

For the first time an explicitly designated as a lotus tree is described by Herodotus. According to him, the North African lotus is a thorny acacia ähnelnder the tree or shrub. One assumes that it is the tree described by Herodotus and Polybius is the Sidarbaum of the genus Ziziphus.

The tree described by Theophrastus is probably the hackberry (Celtis australis).

Pliny the Elder, in his Naturalis historia, the following description of the lotus tree: The tree originated from North Africa, but had been made ​​at home in Italy. Some called him " Celtis ". He was about the size of a pear tree, although Cornelius Nepos write that he was just down. The leaves have notches like those of the holm oak. There were several varieties of lotus tree, which differed mainly by the fruits that have the size of beans about, were saffron-colored, but the color changed during maturation, as the grapes. The branches are, as with the myrtle, densely covered with leaves.

Elsewhere Pliny describes the medicinal use: the berries worked as an astringent and wine-cooked pieces of bark had diarrhea, excessive menstrual bleeding, dizziness, epilepsy. Moreover, they are good for hair loss. And there is nothing in the world, the taste bitter.

Lotus trees are mentioned more times by Pliny:

• A lotus tree that can reach a very advanced age, probably the lotus plum,
• An overseas lotus tree which has no root (possibly also of the jujube, or other type of Ziziphus )
• A tree with very good wood, probably also the lotus plum, as this has a particularly dark and solid wood.

In addition, Pliny mentions an altercation censors Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus Roman (consul 96 BC) and Lucius Licinius Crassus: Gnaeus Domitius envy Crassus to his house and offered him for 10 million sesterces. Crassus replied that he would accept the offer, provided he could remove 6 trees from the plot, what Gnaeus Domitius said that without the trees the land was to him no sesterces worth. This very highly valued lotus trees, of which Pliny says they have very wide sweeping branches and would provide good shade, were probably again nettle trees.

In modern times, lotus tree means the lotus plum.