!ndia
 |
| photo © peter stoeckl |
Indian Lotus.
Sacred Lotos.
Nelumbo nucifera (Gaertner, 1788).
Genus: Nelumbo
Family: Nelumbonaceae
Order: Proteales
Class: Magnoliopsida
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Kingdom: Plantae
Padma, the Sacred Lotus, the national flower of India. Originally distributed in southern Asia, the beautiful plant has reached worldwide tropical distribution that even extends into the eastern parts of North America, and southern Europe.
Indians all over the world seem to have brought their sacred flower with them as Padma is an important part of their religious ceremonies. "From ancient times the lotus has been a divine symbol in Hindu tradition. The growth of its pure beauty from the mud of its origin holds a benign spiritual promise" (1). The flower symbolizes purity and perfection. Like its blossom that develops out of mud and dark waters into the light, our human soul should develop and unfold to reach perfection and enlightenment.
The leaves of the Sacred Lotus are water and dust repellent - thanks to microscopical surface structures that are recently copied by bionic engineers to produce pollution resistant paints, ceramics, utensils.
Nelumbo nucifera is rooted in the soil of a pond or river bottom, while its leaves float on top of the water surface. The plant normally grows up to a height of about 150 cm and a horizontal spread of up to 3 meters. Flowers reach 20 cm in diameter. Seeds are able to survive in river muds keeping their fertility for centuries. A 1,200 year old seed collected from an ancient lake bed in China is one of the oldest germinable seeds on record. (2)
The taxonomy of this remarkable flower has not really been settled yet. But one thing is for sure: Padma is a living fossile. Its existence on earth can be traced back to at least 100 million years (Sanderson & Doyle, 2001) (3).
Rhizoms are edible and used in Asian cuisine and herbal medicine. And also the nuts are edible. "The lotus seeds or nuts are quite versatile, and can be eaten raw or dried and popped like popcorn. They can also be boiled down until soft and made into a paste. Combined with sugar, lotus seed paste is a common ingredient in pastries such as mooncakes, daifuku and rice flour pudding" (4).
Bon appetite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_nucifera (1, 4)
http://cgi-host.uni-marburg.de/~omspezbo/nutzpflanzen/details.cgi?id=330 (2, 3)