Nelumbo nucifera, also known as Padma (Sanskrit: पद्म, romanized: Padma, lit. 'Lotus') or Kamala (Sanskrit: कमल, lit. 'Lotus'), sacred lotus, pink lotus, Indian lotus, or simply lotus, is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. It is sometimes colloquially called water lily, though this more often refers to members of the family Nymphaeaceae. The lotus belongs in the order Proteales.
Description Lotus plants are adapted to grow in the flood plains of slow-moving rivers and delta areas. Stands of lotus drop hundreds of thousands of seeds every year to the bottom of the pond. Some sprout immediately, though most are eaten by wildlife. The remaining seeds can remain dormant for an extensive period of time as the pond silt fills in and dries out. During flood conditions, sediments containing these seeds are broken open, and the dormant seeds rehydrate and begin a new lotus colony. Lotus plants are cultivated in nutrient-rich, loamy, and often flooded soils, requiring warm temperatures and specific planting depths, with propagation via rhizomes, seeds, or tissue culture. It is harvested by hand or machine for stolons, flowers, seeds, and rhizomes over several months depending on climate and variety. It is the national flower of India and unofficially of Vietnam. It has large leaves and flowers that can regulate their temperature, produces long-living seeds, and contains bioactive alkaloids. Under favourable circumstances, the seeds of this aquatic perennial may remain viable for many years, with the oldest recorded lotus germination being from seeds 1,300 years old recovered from a dry lakebed in northeastern China. Therefore, the Chinese regard the plant as a symbol of longevity. It has a very wide native distribution, ranging from central and northern India (at altitudes up to 1,400 m (4,600 ft) in the southern Himalayas), through northern Indochina and East Asia (north to the Amur region); the Russian populations have sometimes been referred to as Nelumbo komarovii, with isolated locations at the Caspian Sea. Today, the species also occurs in southern India, Sri Lanka, virtually all of Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and northern and eastern Australia, but this is probably the result of human translocations. It has a very long history (c. 3,000 years) of being cultivated for its edible seeds and is commonly cultivated in water gardens. It is a highly symbolic and versatile plant used in religious offerings (especially in Hinduism and Buddhism) and diverse culinary traditions across Asia, with its flowers, seeds, and rhizomes valued for spiritual, cultural, and nutritional purposes. It holds deep cultural, spiritual, and religious significance across Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Ismailism, and Chinese culture, symbolizing purity, enlightenment, spiritual awakening, and divine beauty, and is widely depicted in art, architecture, and literature. The leaves of Nelumbo nucifera contain the flavonol miquelianin and alkaloids such as coclaurine and norcoclaurine, while the plant as a whole contains bioactive compounds including nuciferine and neferine. These constituents have been studied for their potential pharmacological effects, and the plant is used in traditional medicine and marketed as a functional food in various cultures.
Etymology The scientific name Nelumbo nucifera comes from a Sinhalese name for the plant, nelambu or nelum (නෙළඹු or නෙළුම්), and the Latin word 'nucifera', meaning "nut-bearing". Therefore, the full name translates to "nut-bearing nelumbo", referring to the plant's edible, nut-like seeds.
Classification
The lotus is often confused with the true water lilies of the genus Nymphaea, in particular N. caerulea, the "blue lotus". In fact, several older systems, such as the Bentham & Hooker system (which is widely used in the Indian subcontinent), refer to the lotus by its old synonym, Nymphaea nelumbo. While all modern plant taxonomy systems agree that this species belongs in the genus Nelumbo, the systems disagree as to which family Nelumbo should be placed in or whether the genus should belong in its own unique family and order. According to the APG IV system, N. nucifera, N. lutea, and their extinct relatives belong in Proteales with the protea flowers due to genetic comparisons. Older systems, such as the Cronquist system, place N. nucifera and its relatives in the order Nymphaeles based on anatomical similarities. According to the APG IV classification, the closest relatives of Nelumbo include the sycamores (Platanaceae).
Botany
The lotus roots grow in pond or river bottom soil, while the leaves float on the water's surface or are held well above it. The leaf stalks (petioles) can be up to 200 cm (6 ft 7 in) long, allowing the plant to grow in water to that depth. The peltate leaf blade or lamina can have a diameter of 80–100 cm (2 ft 7 in – 3 ft 3 in). The leaves are spaced up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) apart along the rhizome, which can grow as much as 20 m (66 ft) in one year. The internodes are not cylindrical but swollen in the middle.
Flower The flowers are usually found on thick stems rising several centimetres above the leaves. They are showy and grow up to 35 cm (14 in) in diameter. Some cultivated varieties have extraordinary numbers of petals. For example, the Chinese variety qian ban lian ("thousand petals lotus") can have between 3,000 and 4,000 petals in a single blossom and the Japanese variety ohmi myoren ("strange lotus") can have between 2,000 and 5,000 petals, the greatest number recorded for any species of plant. Lotus flowers regulate their temperature to within a narrow range, maintaining temperatures of 30–35 °C (86–95 °F), even with air temperatures as low as 10 °C (50 °F). Researchers think that this may be to attract cold-blooded insect pollinators to the flowers. Nelumbo nucifera is not closely related to other plants known to be thermogenic.
Seed A fertilized lotus flower bears fruit that contains a cluster of 10 to 30 seeds. Each seed is ovoid 1–2.5 cm wide by 1–1.5 cm long with a brownish coat. Lotus seeds can remain viable after long periods of dormancy. In 1994, a seed from a sacred lotus, dated at roughly 1,300 years old ± 270 years, was successfully germinated. The genome of the sacred lotus was sequenced in May 2013. A dedicated genome database lists additional genome assemblies sequenced since then.
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