Flower bud

Boiled, sliced lotus roots used in

various Asian cuisines
Lotus root, cooked, no salt
While all plant taxonomy systems unanimously 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.
Botany
The roots of lotus are planted in the soil of the pond or river bottom, while the leaves float on
top of the water surface or are held well above it. The flowers are usually found on thick
stems rising several centimeters above the leaves. The plant normally grows up to a height of
about 150 cm and a horizontal spread of up to 3 meters, but some unverified reports place
the height as high as over 5 meters. The leaves may be as large as 60 cm in diameter, while
the showy flowers can be up to 20 cm in diameter.
Researchers report that the lotus has the remarkable ability to regulate the temperature of its
flowers to within a narrow range just as humans and other warmblooded animals do.
[4]
Dr.
Roger S. Seymour and Dr. Paul Schultze-Motel, physiologists at the University of Adelaide
in Australia, found that lotus flowers blooming in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens maintained a
temperature of 3035 C (8695 F), even when the air temperature dropped to 10 C (50 F). They suspect the
flowers may be doing this to attract coldblooded insect pollinators. The study, published in the journal Nature, is
the latest discovery in the field of thermoregulation, heat-producing, plants. Two other species known to be able to
regulate their temperature include Symplocarpus foetidus and Philodendron selloum.
An individual lotus can live for over a thousand years and has the rare ability to revive into activity after stasis. In
1994, a seed from a sacred lotus, dated at roughly 1,300 years old 270 years, was successfully germinated.
[5][6]
As mentioned earlier, the traditional Sacred Lotus is only distantly related to Nymphaea caerulea, but possesses
similar chemistry. Both Nymphaea caerulea and Nelumbo nucifera contain the alkaloids nuciferine and
aporphine.
The genome of the sacred lotus was sequenced in May 2013.
[7][8][9]
Uses
The distinctive dried seed heads, which resemble the spouts of watering
cans, are widely sold throughout the world for decorative purposes and
for dried flower arranging.
The flowers, seeds, young leaves, and "roots" (rhizomes) are all edible. In
Asia, the petals are sometimes used for garnish, while the large leaves are
used as a wrap for food, not frequently eaten (for example, as a wrapper
for zongzi). In Korea, the leaves and petals are used as a tisane.
Yeonkkotcha () is made with dried petals of white lotus and
yeonipcha () is made with the leaves. Young lotus stems are
used as a salad ingredient in Vietnamese cuisine. The rhizome (called u
() in pinyin Chinese, ngau in Cantonese, thambou in Manipuri, kamal
kakri in Hindi, renkon (, in Japanese),
yeongeun ( in Korean) is used as a vegetable in