Showing Food Sacred lotus
General Information | |||||||||||
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Name | Sacred lotus | ||||||||||
Scientific Name | Nelumbo nucifera | ||||||||||
Description | Nelumbo nucifera, known by numerous common names including Indian lotus, sacred lotus, bean of India, or simply lotus, is one of two species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. The Linnaean binomial Nelumbo nucifera (Gaertn.) is the currently recognized name for this species, which has been classified under the former names, Nelumbium speciosum (Willd.) and Nymphaea nelumbo, among others. Names other than Nelumbo nucifera (Gaertn.) are obsolete synonyms and should not be used in current works. This plant is an aquatic perennial. Under favorable circumstances its seeds may remain viable for many years, with the oldest recorded lotus germination being from that of seeds 1,300 years old recovered from a dry lakebed in northeastern China. A common misconception is referring to the lotus as a water lily (Nymphaea), an entirely different plant, as can be seen in the center of the flowers. Nymphaea lacks the structure that goes on to form the distinctive circular seed pod in the Nelumbo nucifera. Native to Tropical Asia and Queensland, Australia, it is commonly cultivated in water gardens. It is also the national flower of India and Vietnam. The flowers, seeds, young leaves, and "roots" (rhizomes) are all edible. | ||||||||||
Primary ID | FOOD00402 | ||||||||||
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Group | Vegetables | ||||||||||
Sub-Group | Other vegetables | ||||||||||
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ITIS ID | 18400 | ||||||||||
Wikipedia ID | Nelumbo_nucifera | ||||||||||
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Content Reference | — Duke, James. 'Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. United States Department of Agriculture.' Agricultural Research Service, Accessed April 27 (2004). — U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 2008. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 21. Nutrient Data Laboratory Home Page. — Shinbo, Y., et al. 'KNApSAcK: a comprehensive species-metabolite relationship database.' Plant Metabolomics. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2006. 165-181. |