The Black Lotus is a fictional plant created by the late American author Robert E. Howard for his Hyborian Age stories featuring Conan the Cimmerian. It was first mentioned in "The Tower of the Elephant", but only as a source of poison. Its oneirogenic properties originate from the 1933 short story "The Slithering Shadow". The plant itself first appears in "Queen of the Black Coast", where Conan describes it as "the black lotus, whose juice was death, and whose scent brought dream-haunted slumber".
Description[]
A mysterious plant with hallucinogenic and esoteric properties, the Black Lotus was notably cultivated in ancient Xuthal (CIRCLE: "The Slithering Shadow", Robert E. Howard), and prior to that in Acheron and Stygia (EXP: "Dreams of the Black Lotus", Lin Carter). According to at least one source, it is still grown by the Tcho-Tcho People on the Plateau of Sung (EXP: "Dope War of the Black Tong", Robert M. Price).