Water lily
| Water Lily | ||||||||||
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 White Egyptian Lotus | ||||||||||
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Barclaya Wall. (4 spp.) Euryale Salisb. (1 sp.) Nelumbo A. Rich. - water lotuses (2 spp.) Nuphar Sm. (9 spp.) Nymphaea L - water lilies (47 spp.) Ondinea Hartog (1 sp.) Victoria Lindl. - giant water lily (2 spp.) |
The Nymphaeaceae (water lilies) belong to the Order Nymphaeales. They are tuberous plants that are rooted in soil in bodies of water, with leaves and flowers floating on the water surface. Some species of the water lotus are used as food.
Modern phylogenetic thinking about the flowering plants regards the water lilies as the most basal ("primitive") of the flowering plants.
Many botanists place the genus Nelumbo in its own family, the Nelumbonaceae.
The lotus is a water lily in either the genus Nymphaea (the Egyptian lotus) or genus Nelumbo (the Indian lotus). Like most water lilies, both plants have round leaves that float on the surface of the water. Nymphaea leaves have a radial notch; Nelumbo leaves do not. Leaves lacking a notch reaching into the petiole'\' (leaf stem) are called peltate. Nelumbo'' fruit is often used in flower arrangements. It has about twenty pits in its upper surface, each of which contains a seed. Both plants have been used as religious symbols.
Lotus is highly regarded in Hindu and Buddhist cultures and has been given the status of National Flower of India.
In Buddhist symbolism, the lotus represents purity of body, speech, and mind, floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire. See also: Lotus Position.
Nelumbo, the Indian lotus, has peltate leaves Nymphaea colorata from Africa is a member of the Nymphaeaceae
Lotus
The Lotus in Buddhism
