Scientific or Latin name: Nelumbo nucifera.

Common name: Lotus, Lotus flower, Sacred flower, Indian lotus, sacred lotus, bean of India, Blue Lotus, Egyptian Lotus, Blue Water Lily, Sacred Narcotic, Lily of the Nile.  It has its origins in tropical and subtropical Asia and it belongs to the Nelumbonaceae family.

The Lotus Flower is the National Flower of India.  It is a sacred flower and has been, since before time, a good luck symbol of Indian culture.  A symbol of purity, beauty, majesty, grace, fertility, abundance, richness, wisdom and serenity.

It is an aquatic plant with big, round, blue-green leaves that provide shadow for fish and reduce the appearance of algae. Its fruit is in the form of an inverted cone. 

Summer produces big, intensely pink flowers that, with maturity, take on a paler pink color.  The tubes formed in the winter under the plant have been used and are still used as food by Indigenous tribes in America and Japan. They need a water depth of at least 60 cm and will take root in Spring in a horizontal position in the mud.