LOTUS – The Divine Seat

By: Chandra Shekhar Gupta

The lotus is a flower of antiquity and has long been associated with the history, culture, religion, ancient literature and arts and crafts of India.  Due to all of these characteristics, the lotus was selected as the national flower of India. It has been described in various mythological legends, epics, scriptures, Sanskrit literature and historical records.

Botanical Name - Nelumbo nucifera
Synonyms - Nelumbium nelumbo
                     Nelumbium speciosum
Family - Nympheaceae or Nelumbonaceae

Waterlily (Nymphaea spp.) is another aquatic flower which resembles the lotus and people sometimes confuse the two.
The family Nympheaceae has two important genera having aquatic species with beautiful and attractive flowers i.e. water lily and lotus.  The former belongs to the genera Nymphea and the latter is from Nelumbo. Moreover, the genus Nelumbo has only two species, N. nucifera (Indian lotus) and N. lutea (American lotus or yellow lotus). (clique aqui para ler o artigo completo)