Lotus tree

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The lotus tree (Greek lôtos) was a plant in Greek mythology bearing a fruit that caused a pleasant drowsiness and growing in North Africa. This fruit was reported to be the only food of an island people called the Lotus-Eaters. In Homer’s Odyssey those of Odysseus' men who ate the fruit lost all desire to leave the island and had to be forced away. In another story from Greek mythology, the nymph, Lotis, is turned into a lotus tree.

The lotus tree is thought to have been a species of Ziziphus (perhaps Ziziphus lotus) or the Date Palm. The nettle tree (Celtis australis) is another tree that was known under the name of lotus.

[edit] References

• lôtos at Liddell, Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, 1889