Plant Indices
- Alphabetical Index (Genera)
- Alphabetical Index (Vernacular)
- Cladistic Index
LOTUS (Nelumbo)
Family: Nelumbonaceae
Species: Nelumbo nucifera
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| Nelumbo nucifera. Own work--T.Voekler |
Names:
- Lotus
- Aba [Yoruba]
- Ambal [Tamil]
- Ambuj [Hindi]
- Asian Lotus
- Badhur [Bengali]
- Badnjak [Serbian]
- Baihe [Chinese]
- Bean of India
- Bua Luang [Thai]
- Bunga Teratai [Malay]
- Dàlián [Chinese]
- Dongjeonggwa [Korean]
- East Indian Lotus
- Egyptian Bean
- Egyptian Lotus
- Fior Di Loto [Italian]
- Fleur De Lotus [French]
- Furén [Chinese]
- Fuyo [Japanese]
- Gacchi [Kannada]
- Gul-E-Nawar [Persian]
- Hachasu [Japanese]
- Hachisu [Japanese]
- Hasu [Japanese]
- Hehua [Chinese]
- Hoa Sen [Vietnamese]
- Indian Lotus
- Indische Lotus [Dutch]
- Indisk Lotus [Danish/Norwegian/Swedish]
- Kamal [Bengali/Hindi/Urdu]
- Kamala [Sanskrit]
- Kamalamu [Telugu]
- Kanval [Punjabi]
- Kanwal [Punjabi]
- Kewda [Odia]
- Kokoye [Sinhala]
- Kombol [Malayalam]
- Kukkerenne [Estonian]
- Kvitka Lotosu [Ukrainian]
- Leknín Indický [Czech]
- Lián [Chinese]
- Lianhua [Chinese]
- Lien [Vietnamese]
- Liên Hoa [Vietnamese]
- Lin'ge [Chinese]
- Lootus [Estonian]
- Lotos [Croatian/Czech/Polish/Slovak]
- Lotos Indický [Slovak]
- Lotos Orzechodajny [Polish]
- Lotosblume [German]
- Lotosový Kvet [Slovak]
- Lotus D'orient [French]
- Lotus Des Indes [French]
- Lotus Sacré [French]
- Lótusz [Hungarian]
- Lótuszvirág [Hungarian]
- Luôn Tôn [Vietnamese]
- Manel [Sinhala]
- Ndulele [Swahili]
- Nelumbium [Latin]
- Nénuphar [French]
- Nilofar [Persian]
- Nilüfer [Turkish]
- Niufar [Uzbek]
- Nymphéa [French]
- Oriental Lotus
- Padma [Sanskrit]
- Padmam [Malayalam]
- Padmanab [Marathi]
- Padme [Tibetan]
- Paduma [Pali]
- Padumai [Tamil]
- Pajmaa [Mongolian]
- Pankaj [Sanskrit]
- Piyain [Bengali]
- Pokharul [Nepali]
- Pokkali [Malayalam]
- Pundarika [Sanskrit]
- Pundrik [Bengali]
- Pushkara [Sanskrit]
- Qızılgül [Azerbaijani]
- Racimo Sagrado [Spanish]
- Raksha [Kannada]
- Renkon [Japanese]
- Sacred Lily
- Sacred Lotus
- Sacred Water Lotus
- Salungkuy [Ilocano]
- Sen [Japanese/Vietnamese]
- Shalmalee [Sanskrit]
- Shatigma [Sanskrit]
- Shonipushpa [Sanskrit]
- Shunbala [Assamese]
- Sousan [Persian]
- Su Nilüferi [Turkish]
- Tamara [Malayalam]
- Tamarai [Tamil]
- Tampala [Sanskrit]
- Tavarai [Tamil]
- Thamarai [Malayalam]
- Tsvetok Lotosa [Russian]
- Tuệ Liên [Vietnamese]
- Water Lily
- Yeonkkot [Korean]
- Yungyō [Korean]
Genus Distribution: Asia and North America.
Species Distribution:
- Africa, Northern: Algeria, Libya, Morocco
- Asia, Central: Tibet
- Asia, East: China (Hainan, Manchuria, North-Central China, South-Central China, Southeast China), Japan, Korea
- Asia, Northern: Russia (Amur, Khabarovsk, North Caucasus, Primorye, South European Russia)
- Asia, South: Bangladesh, India (Assam), Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
- Asia, Southeast: Cambodia, Indonesia (Jawa, Lesser Sunda Islands), Laos, Malaysia (Malaya), Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam
- Asia, Western: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey
- Europe, Eastern: Ukraine
- Oceania: Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia), Papua New Guinea (New Guinea)
Physical Description
Nelumbo, the lotus, is the only extant genus of the family
Nelumbonaceae. This genus contains two species, those being N. nucifera and N.
lutea. N. Lutea, being a New World plant, is excluded from our research.
The lotus is an aquatic flowering plant with features very similar to the water lily family, Nymphaeacea, though at present these similarities are believed to be the result of convergent evolution.
Lotuses are unique among plants in that they generate their own heat, allowing the plant to thermoregulate.
Like the water lily, lotuses grow in stands on the flood plains of slow-moving rivers and deltas.
Lotus stands drop hundreds of thousands of seeds annually. Most are eaten by wildlife, but many go dormant in the mud for long stretches of time. The pods sink into silt and dry out, and when the floodwaters wash in the silt breaks open, the seeds rehydrate and start a new lotus colony. The oldest seed recorded germinating in this way comes from a dry lakebed in northeastern China, believed to have been about 1,300 years old!
The leaves of the lotus are extremely water repellent (ultrahydrophobicity). This repellant quality has been named the “lotus effect.” Any droplet of water makes contact with the leaf at only a single point, and any movement of the leaf results in the droplet rolling off. This is achieved by the high density of papillae tubules, minimizing contact surface between the leaf and water.
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Nelumbo nucifera seedhead, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. From KENPEI. |
Leaf Properties: Highly water-repellant; recantation.
Root Properties: Edible, widely consumed.
Symbolism
Lotus and Water Lily
Due to their very similar habits, much of the symbolism between the
lotus and
water lily
is interchangeable.
Victorian Flower Language
Per
Greenaway, the lotus is generally a demarcation of eloquence; however, when
separated, its constituents can mean "estranged love" (the flower solo) and
"recantation" (the leaf solo). This meaning in the leaf may stem from the
leaf's hydrophobic qualities, marking separation, "you have no hold on me."
Modern Flower Language
In modern flower language, the lotus is associated with purity,
enlightenment, self-regeneration/rebirth, estranged love, forgetfulness of the
past, and eloquence. Additionally, courage and rising above struggle (as with
water lily).
Eight Auspicious Signs - Buddhist Flower Language
As one of the Eight Auspicious Signs, the lotus means rectitude, firmness,
conjugal harmony, and prosperity. It is associated with the blessings of many
children. It was believed that the lotus bloomed in the footsteps of the
new-born Buddha.
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Three Buddhas seated on lotus thrones. Bihar, India, likely Kurkihar, Pala Dynasty, c. 1000AD. (In Östasiatiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden, at time of photograph.) Own work--Daderot. |
Femininity, Fertility, Life, Rebirth, and Immortality
As with many flowers, the graceful lotus as regarded as analogous to
idealized vulva as the divine source of life. As such, it was associated with
birth and rebirth, and in mythology was treated as the origin of cosmic life,
creator gods, and the sun/sun gods. In Tibetan Buddhism, this mythical lotus
birth extends to the tradition’s founder, Padmasambhava, who was said to be
discovered in a lotus at eight years old. This image is especially potent due
to the plant’s habit of growing from anoxic mud, which is analogous to the
primordial chaos (symbolism also shared with the water lily).
It grew from the navel of Vishnu as he rested upon the waters, giving birth to Brahma.
In Egypt, it was a votive emblem of solar and fertility deities, and of the Upper Nile (the source of life).
According to Tresidder, in Chinese Buddhism, the Western Heaven is the Sacred Lake of Lotuses. The souls of the virtuous reside in the buds of the lotus until they are permitted entry into paradise. This is supported by Skinner, who claims that lotuses are the resting places of great spirits. Skinner also relays that the Japanese would wrap food in the lotus and give it as offerings to the venerated dead.
Skinner relays the belief that the lotus’s nectar gives eternal life, and that its scent was the breath of the gods.
According to Tresidder, in Japanese iconography the eight-petaled lotus represents the past, present, and future (though how this quite works out is not articulated).
Enlightenment
The lotus grows from an unattractive bud or heart and radiating out in
splendor, which was regarded as analogous to spiritual growth and
enlightenment. It is an emblem of that which is spiritually good and perfect
(or divine and immortal) in men, which reveals itself just as the lotus
blooms.
Vishnu is often described as the “Lotus-Eyes One.”
In Tantric and Yogic traditions, the chakras are often represented with lotuses, with the thousand-petaled lotus of enlightenment (crown chakra) placed at the top of the skull indicating harmony of the flow of chakra energies.
In Chinese Taoism, the concept of enlightenment is sometimes communicated through the “golden blossom,” an analogy of unfolding understanding being akin to a blossoming lotus.
In Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese Buddhism, the lotus is an emblem of Buddha himself, and an aspirational model of the knowledge-state necessary for nirvana. The pink lotus is considered the lotus of the Buddha himself.
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| Goddess Lakshmi, rising from the lotus, by Raj Ravi Varma (1848-1906). |
Seat of the Gods
In Hindu and Buddhist art, saints, spirits, and gods are often depicted
within the framing device of the lotus, sitting within the flame-like petals
cross-legged as though on a throne. It also frequently forms the base for
statuary and other images.
This symbolism is shared as well in Jainism, Manichaeism, and the Bahai faith. In Indian Christianity, it is particular to the iconography of Saint Thomas, a trend found also in the Nestorian iconography of the Chinese Christians.
Solar, Lunar, and Fire
The flame-like petals of the lotus lend it to fire symbolism and,
therefore, as an attribute of solar and fire gods. This includes Padma, the
consort of Vishnu. In Persia, this flower was a symbol of the sun. According
to Skinner, the lotus represents both the sun and moon.
Silence
Skinner claims the lotus is the attribute of the allegorical figure of
Silence.
Purity
A general emblem of purity (including virginity). It represents freedom
from desire, displaying material attachment at the base overcome by the purity
of mind breaching the surface of the water. Confucian scholar Zhou Dunyi
(1017-1073) articulated the idea thus:
予獨愛蓮之出淤泥而不染”
“I love the lotus because while growing from mud, it is unstained."
The same language was used earlier by the Buddha, according to the Aṅguttara Nikāya. In Japan is an emblem of incorruptible morality. It has likewise been held as a symbol of honesty.
Sexual Imagery
In Tantric Buddhism, the male stem and female blossom are occasionally
presented together as indicating a state of spiritual union and harmony. This
emblem is called the “jewel in the lotus,” and it is invoked in the
Om mani padme hum mantra.
It was also the fragrance of Lakshmi, Hindu goddess of love, and the boat of Kamadiva as she floated down the river.
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Iconographic depiction of the
Avalokiteshvara mantra, OM MANI PADME HUM. This depiction by Christopher J. Fynn. |
Profanation
Despite its pure and chaste associations, the lotus also has a strong
association with prostitution. In Chinese tradition, courtesans were known as
“golden lotus.” This likely comes from a number of associations, including the
flower’s beauty, affiliation with the divine feminine, and its connection with
fire. In this case, these are the fires of carnal lust, a worldly desire at
odds with enlightenment.
The Lotus Eaters
While the plant has a name association with the Lotus Eaters of Homer’s
Odyssey, the narcotic plants referenced are more likely water lilies
(Nymphaea nouchali/caerulia) or [hackberry] (Celtis australis).
Culture
Presently the lotus is being considered for wastewater treatment, as it is
good at removing polluting compounds and heavy metals from water.
Lotus Silk
Lotus stems can be unraveled into a silk, producing one of the rarest
fabrics in the world. This silk is produced only at Inle Lake, Myanmar and in
Siem Reap, Cambodia it is woven into special robes for images of the Buddha
called kya thingan (“lotus robe”).
Medical
We are not a medical website, do not take health advice from us.
The uses listed here come from Ayurvedic, traditional Chinese, and Oriental folk medicine traditions.
Flowers
The flowers are used in treating low blood sugar, diarrhea, cholera,
fever, and hyperdipsia (extreme thirst).
Seeds
The seeds are astringent. Traditional Eastern medicine claims that
lotus seeds quench thirst, treat issues of the spleen, and are effective
against diarrhea. As early as the Han Dynasty it was claimed they were good
for the heart and kidneys in Shen Nong’s [Herbal Classic].
Leaves
The leaves are used for treating discharge of blood from the nose,
urine, and in vomit.
Rhizomes
The rhizomes are believed to be diuretic, antidiabetic, and
anti-inflammatory.
Poison
All of the lotus plant is edible, but it can be contaminated with giant
intestinal flukes (Fasciolopsis buski), so cooking is strongly
recommended.
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Fasciolopsis buski, or as we have named him,
Lugal Ḫiālu, "Lord of Wriggling." From The animal parasites of man: a handbook for students and medical men, by Braun and Odher, 1911 reprint. |
Food
There entire plant is edible, raw or cooked. The portions under water are
high in starch. The fleshy rhizomes can be baked or boiled. The young leaves
can be boiled. The seeds can be eaten raw, dried, or ground into a flour.
Lotus seed flour is processed into cakes, noodles, paste, fermented milk, rice wine, ice cream, and other products. It is also popped like popcorn, just as the seeds of the water lily (phool makhana).
Tea is made from the embryos, seeds, leaves, stamens, and petals of the lotus, and are popular in Korea and China
Stems are a salad ingredient in Vietnam, and soup and curry in Thailand and India.
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Lotus root, boiled and seasoned. Own work--westwind. |
Compiler Notes
- The lotus’s association simultaneously with fire and water lends it well to transcendental expression. It may be used to express the other half of the Hermetic axiom "as below, so above," being that it is an emblem of fire rising from earth and water (the feminine elements) up towards heaven.
- As with the water lily, this is the birthplace/throne of gods. Anything placed in a lotus is elevated into the realm of divine or solar/celestial action, set apart from the mundane/profane.
- The leaves of the lotus are ultra-hydrophobic. This could be used in rabies curses.
- The hydrophobic properties of leaves might be employed to render a fire immune to being smothered by liquid means. This could be a physical fire that is proof against water, or a conceptual fire like a motivation secured against water-affiliated distractions (like sex).
- As symbols of recantation, lotus leaves may make effective reagents in breaking curses or enchantments that are the result of ill-conceived or misunderstood pacts.
- A lotus seed might be employed as a spell reagent in a place where miasma or some other supernatural corruption or noise would interfere with spell work. As a lotus emerges pure and stainless from the mud, so too does the spell function flawlessly through the mire of negative supernatural interferences.
- Vishnu may be referred to as the "Lotus-Eyed One" because he sees clearly through the opaque darkness of worldly corruption and sin to see the truth. A similar logic can be rendered mechanically, employing lotus or lotus seeds in the process of glassmaking for spectacles. This might be a suitable focus for the spell true seeing in Dungeons & Dragons.
- Per the Japanese association with honesty, lotus might be employed in magical divinations to extract true statements from the dead or in magical interrogations to compel truth out of the living. This might be considered a profanation, as it employs a virtue of the plant as a malefic.
- Conversely, the lotus's affiliation with Silence might help one retain their verbal continence when interrogated, by raising them spiritually and mentally above the dark matter of torture of the body.
- Intestinal flukes attach themselves to the rhizomes of this plant. As "worm" is a synonym for a "spirit of disease," this is an opportunity to identify the fluke with a particular demon, and possibly even a folkloric just-so story about the relationship between the lotus and this demon that covets the purity of the flower.
- From the above, the same demon could be strongly associated with STDs because of the profanation of the lotus as an emblem of prostitution.
- Because of the seed's ability to withstand long years of drought and its purported ability to quench thirst, a magician might employ the seeds as a reagent against thirst. By means of clever spell work, the magician might relieve himself and his companions of the need to drink for days or weeks on a long trek through a pitiless desert.
- As the lotus is a fire that rises up out of the water, it bears parallel features with the [pearl] another transcendent material that comes up out of the water. These might be used to substitute each other as reagents in a pinch.
- Lotus silk could be used as an effective reagent of reclamation. While there are major ethical issues concerning knowledge acquired through wicked means (to say nothing of the suspect nature of the data in the first place), there is an argument to be made that not using the information renders the suffering of those the data was extracted from meaningless. In a fantasy story, such information might be reclaimed by filtering through magical means. The employ of lotus silk makes the lotus's life-cycle part of this filtering process. A book bound with or with pages made of lotus silk might reject the pen or brush if it tries to record anything that isn't actually true, thus purifying the information from its wicked source.
- Similarly (and more obviously), garments of lotus silk might protect the soul of the wearer from corrupting influences.
- Given that lotus seeds can be popped like popcorn, this is a vector for magical action. A magically altered seedhead might be employed as a rocket pod for rapid-fire spells! Alternately, plant-themed characters in video games might incorporate lotus rocket pods into their character design, or as claymore-style anti-personnel explosives.
- Similarly, the seeds may also be used as a material component for the fireball spell in Dungeons & Dragons.
- The seed pod is noted as resembling the spout a garden watering can. Opportunity for water-based physical comedy.
Image Refs
[Img 01 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sacred_lotus_Nelumbo_nucifera.jpg ]
[Img 02 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nelumbo_nucifera5.jpg ]
[Img 04 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Goddess_Lakshmi_by_Raja_Ravi_Varma.jpg ]
[Img 05 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OM_MANI_PADME_HUM.svg ]
[Img 06 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fasciolopsis_buski_Giant_intestinal_fluke.JPG ]
[Img 07 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JaRenkonLotus11R.jpg ]
 |
| Bingdi lotuses. Own work--NNU-12-22100555 |
Names:
- Bingdi Lotus
- Bīng Dī [Chinese]
- Bingtou Lotus
- Ice Drop Lotus
- White Ice Drop Lotus
- Xue Lian [Chinese]
Distribution: China
Physical Description
The bingdi lotus is a mutation of N. nucifera that results in twinned
flowers at the end of each stalk.
Symbolism
Considered auspicious in Chinese tradition, being a portent of prosperity,
especially in matters of romantic love, marital harmony, or fraternal love
(for obvious reasons).
Compiler Notes
- Possible exchange reagent to confer sympathetic benefit or harm between two persons.
- Could be a portent of the birth of divine twins, figures similar to Castor and Pollux (the Greek Dioskouroi) or Hunahpu and Xbalanque (the Maya Hero Twins).
Image Refs
[Img 08 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingdi_lotus#/media/File:Bingdi_lotuses.jpg ]
* * * * * * *
See Also:
- Plants
- Flowers
- Trees
- Ferns
- Moss and Lichen [Pending]
- Fungi [Pending]
- Cladistic Index
- Herbal Medicine [Pending]
- Resin, Incense, Balsam, and Lacquer [Pending]
- Platanus (Plane Tree)
* * * * * * *
-Drury, N. (2004). The dictionary of the esoteric: 3000 entries on the mystical and occult traditions. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.
-Drury, N. (2005). The Watkins Dictionary of Magic: 3000 entries on the magical traditions. Watkins.
-Greenaway, Kate. Language of Flowers. George Routleage and Sons.
-Skinner, Charles M. “Myths and Legends of Flowers, Trees, Fruits, and Plants : In All Ages and in All Climes : Skinner, Charles M. (Charles Montgomery), 1852-1907 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott Co., 1 Jan. 1970, https://archive.org/details/mythslegendsoffl00skin.
-Tresidder, J. (2008). The Watkins Dictionary of Symbols. Watkins.
( https://www.secretflowerlanguage.com/ ) (Defunct)
(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingdi_lotus
)
(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo
)
(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_nucifera
)
(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbonaceae
)
(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_lotus_in_religious_art
)
(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkwbBPCduDU
)
Name assistance provided by Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
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