Secred Lotus

Overview

Indian lotus originates from continental Asia (possibly India), but is now widely distributed from North-Eastern Africa to North-Eastern Australia, including China, South-East Asia, and Japan (as wild or cultivated plants). For at least 6,000 years it has been associated with Indian culture and religion as a sacred flower. It is also occasionally cultivated as an ornamental in Europe, Africa and America.

Vernacular Names

Bua-luang (Thailand), Baino (Tagalog-Philippines), Sen (Vietnamese), Lian hua (Chinese), Hasu (Japanese), Indischer Lotus (German), Seroja (Indonesia), Padema (Malaysia), Chhu:k (Cambodia), Bwa (Laos).

Agroecology

Lotus plants are adapted to grow in the flood plains of slow-moving rivers and delta areas. Requires a rich loam. Succeeds in water up to 2.5 m deep, with water temperatures of 23-27 °C in the growing season. The natural habitat of Lotus plants in freshwater bodies.

Morphology

• Rhizomes - creeping, jointed, up to 10 m long, 6-9 cm in diameter, interjoints ellipsoidal, 10-30 cm long, white to light brown, fleshy, mucilaginous and slightly fibrous.
• Leaves - peltate, arising from the joints, one per joint, petiole terete, up to 2.5 m long, covered with short fleshy prickles, inside with numerous air canals, blade depressed orbicular or shallowly cup-shaped.
• Flowers - solitary, axillary, projecting above the water higher or as high as the leaves, erect or nodding, 15-25 cm in diameter, fragrant, pink with a white base.
• Fruits - an aggregate of indehiscent nutlets; nutlets 10-30 per aggregate fruit, ovoid-oblongoid, 1-2.5 cm × 1-1.5 cm, black-brown.
• Seeds - with one bifid cotyledon and endosperm enveloping the embryo as a thin membrane.

Cultivation

Plants raised from seed take longer to flower than those grown from rhizome parts. Under ideal conditions, rhizomes can grow 6-9 m in a season. The plant requires 5-6 years to establish well and to reach the stage of full bloom.

Chemical Constituents

Flavonoids, riboflavin, niacin, ascorbic acid, amino acid, saponin, steroid, β-sitosterol, campesterol, β- amyrin, stigmasterol, isofucoste-rol, nelumboside, dehydrolanosterol, fatty acids (linoleic acid, oleic acid, stearic acid, and linolenic acid).

Traditional Medicinal Uses

Medicinal Uses

• The rhizome is used to treat diarrhoea and dysentery.
• Embryos are used for reducing fever, treating cholera, haemoptysis, spermatorrhoea and as a tonic.
• The stamens are used as astringent, diuretic and to treat fever.
• Studies have suggest antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, antipyretic, hepatoprotective, nootropic, cytoprotective, antiangiogenic properties.

Traditional Uses

• The Malays use the astringent petals for syphilis.
• In Java, petals are used for diarrhea and vomiting.
• In Japan, the leaf has been used for home remedy of the summer heat syndrome.
• In China, leaf is used to treat obesity, also as vermifuge and antihemorrhagic; plant juice used in dysentery.
• In Siddha medicine, it is used as an aphrodisiac.