Lotus 'seeds', which are botanically nutlets of a multiple fruit with a very hard air-and water-impervious pericarp, have long been claimed to live for centuries. Seed storage behaviour: Orthodox (the seeds of this plant survive being dried without significantly reducing their viability, and are therefore amenable to long-term frozen storage such as at the MSB) Long life seeds Nelumbo lutea are held, both of which are from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Centre, Austin, Texas Number of seed collections stored in the Millennium Seed Bank: None. Two collections of the related species Seeds are dried, packaged and stored at a sub-zero temperature in our seed bank vault. Kew's Millennium Seed Bank Partnership aims to save plant life world wide, focusing on plants under threat and those of most use in the future. Threats and conservationĪlthough abundant in cultivation, with many different cultivars having been bred over the centuries, local wild populations of sacred lotus in central mainland China have been greatly reduced due to the rapid development of the aquaculture industry. This term describes the leaves' self-cleaning capacity which is a result of dirt particles being picked up by water droplets due to a complex nanostructure of the leaf surface, which minimises adhesion. The strikingly water-repellent leaf surface has inspired the term 'lotus effect'. Its large, peltate (with the leaf-stalk attaching to the centre, rather than the edge) leaves rise above the water surface on 1 to 2 m long petioles. The sacred lotus is a perennial aquatic plant with rhizomes (often mistakenly called 'roots') that grow in the mud at the bottom of shallow ponds, lakes, lagoons, marshes and flooded fields. In the wild, the sacred lotus occurs in warm-temperate to tropical regions of Asia (Iran to China, Japan and New Guinea) and northeast Australia. The young leaves, leaf stalks and flowers are eaten as vegetables in India. A paste made from the nutlets is used as a filling in 'mooncakes', traditional Chinese pastries. In China, Japan and India, for example, the rhizomes are roasted, pickled, candied or sliced and fried as chips. Nelumbo nucifera has been in cultivation in China for more than 3,000 years, and has been grown not only for its cultural and ornamental value, but also for medicinal uses and for its edible 'seeds' and rhizomes. The sacred lotus has deep religious meaning to Hindus and Buddhists, to whom the lotus flower symbolises beauty, purity and divinity. In Hinduism the sacred lotus represents the sun, and is associated with mother goddesses as a symbol of fertility. Their isolated phylogenetic position indicates that both Nelumbo and Platanus may be living fossils (the only survivors of an ancient and formerly much more diverse group). Recent molecular research has shown that the closest living relatives of the sacred lotus are the plane trees ( Platanus spp., Platanaceae) and members of the protea family (Proteaceae).
However, lotus flowers differ markedly from those of water lilies, most notably through the obconical (ice-cream cone-shaped) receptacle in the centre, into which numerous free carpels are sunken. An aquatic perennial with large showy flowers, the sacred lotus has long been considered a close relative of water lilies.