Nelumbo
Encyclopedia
Nelumbo is a genus
of aquatic plant
s with large, showy flower
s resembling water lilies
, commonly known as lotus
. The generic name is derived from the Sinhalese word Nelum. There are only two known living species in the genus. The sacred lotus (N. nucifera
) is native to Asia
, and is the better known of the two. It is commonly cultivated, and also used in Chinese medicine and cooking. This species is the national flower
of Egypt
, India
and Vietnam
. The American lotus (N. lutea
) is native to North America
and the Caribbean
. Horticultural hybrids have been produced between these two geographically separated species. A third, extinct species, N. aureavallis
, is known from Eocene
fossils from North Dakota
, United States.
There is residual disagreement over which family the genus should be placed in. Traditional classification systems recognized Nelumbo as part of the Nymphaeaceae
(water lily) family, but traditional taxonomists were likely misled by evolutionary convergences
associated with an evolutionary shift from a terrestrial to an aquatic lifestyle. In the older classification systems it was recognized under the biological order
Nymphaeales
or Nelumbonales. Nelumbo is currently recognized as its own family, Nelumbonaceae, as one of several distinctive families in the eudicot order Proteales
. Its closest living relatives, the (Proteaceae
and Platanaceae
), are shrubs or trees.
s, found in North America
and Asia
(and perhaps some adjacent areas, but widely cultivated elsewhere).
The leaves
of Nelumbo can be distinguished from those of genera in the Nymphaeaceae
as they are peltate
, that is they have fully circular leaves. Nymphaea
, on the other hand, has a single characteristic notch from the edge in to the center of the lily pad. The seedpod
of Nelumbo is very distinctive.
-_water_drops_w_img_8657.jpg)
The APG II system
of 2003, recognizes Nelumbonaceae as a distinct family and places it in the order Proteales
, in the eudicot clade
.
of 1981 recognizes the family but places it in the water lily order Nymphaeales
. The Dahlgren system
of 1985 and Thorne system (1992)
both recognize the family and place it in its own order, Nelumbonales.
.
in order to benefit insect
s that are needed for it to reproduce. When the plant flowers, it heats
its blossoms to above 30 °C (86 °F) for as long as four days even when the air is as cool as 10 °C (50 °F). The heat releases an aroma that attracts certain insects, which fly into the flower to feed on nectar and pollen
. According to Roger Seymour and Paul Schultze-Motel of Australia’s University of Adelaide, the heat also rewards insects with a stable environment that enhances their ability to eat, mate, and prepare for flight.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of aquatic plant
Aquatic plant
Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments. They are also referred to as hydrophytes or aquatic macrophytes. These plants require special adaptations for living submerged in water, or at the water's surface. Aquatic plants can only grow in water or in soil that is...
s with large, showy flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s resembling water lilies
Nymphaeaceae
Nymphaeaceae is a family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called water lilies and live in freshwater areas in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains eight genera. There are about 70 species of water lilies around the world. The genus...
, commonly known as lotus
Lotus (plant)
Lotus identifies various plant taxa:* Nelumbo, a genus of aquatic plants with showy flowers** Nelumbo nucifera, the Sacred or Indian lotus** Nelumbo lutea, the American or Yellow lotus...
. The generic name is derived from the Sinhalese word Nelum. There are only two known living species in the genus. The sacred lotus (N. nucifera
Nelumbo nucifera
Nelumbo nucifera, known by a number of names including Indian Lotus, Sacred Lotus, Bean of India, or simply Lotus, is a plant in the monogeneric family Nelumbonaceae...
) is native to Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, and is the better known of the two. It is commonly cultivated, and also used in Chinese medicine and cooking. This species is the national flower
Floral emblem
In a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. Some countries have a country-wide floral emblem; others in addition have symbols representing subdivisions. Different processes have been used to adopt these symbols - some are conferred by...
of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. The American lotus (N. lutea
Nelumbo lutea
Nelumbo lutea is a species of flowering plant in the monogeneric family Nelumbonaceae. Common names include American lotus, yellow lotus, water-chinquapin, and volée. It is native to North America...
) is native to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. Horticultural hybrids have been produced between these two geographically separated species. A third, extinct species, N. aureavallis
Nelumbo aureavallis
Nelumbo aureavallis is an extinct species of flowering plant in the lotus family known from Ypresian age Eocene fossils found in western North Dakota, USA.The species was described from two leaf specimens with reference to four others...
, is known from Eocene
Eocene
The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...
fossils from North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
, United States.
There is residual disagreement over which family the genus should be placed in. Traditional classification systems recognized Nelumbo as part of the Nymphaeaceae
Nymphaeaceae
Nymphaeaceae is a family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called water lilies and live in freshwater areas in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains eight genera. There are about 70 species of water lilies around the world. The genus...
(water lily) family, but traditional taxonomists were likely misled by evolutionary convergences
Convergent evolution
Convergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages.The wing is a classic example of convergent evolution in action. Although their last common ancestor did not have wings, both birds and bats do, and are capable of powered flight. The wings are...
associated with an evolutionary shift from a terrestrial to an aquatic lifestyle. In the older classification systems it was recognized under the biological order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
Nymphaeales
Nymphaeales
Nymphaeales is an order of plants, which consists of water lilies and other aquatic plants.This order is considered to be a basal, or early diverging, group of angiosperms...
or Nelumbonales. Nelumbo is currently recognized as its own family, Nelumbonaceae, as one of several distinctive families in the eudicot order Proteales
Proteales
Proteales is the botanical name of an order of flowering plants. Such an order has been recognized by almost all taxonomists.-Families:The APG II system, of 2003, also recognizes this order, and places it in the clade eudicots with this circumscription:...
. Its closest living relatives, the (Proteaceae
Proteaceae
Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea,...
and Platanaceae
Platanaceae
Platanaceae is a family of flowering plants. It has been recognized by almost all taxonomists, and is sometimes called the "plane-tree family"....
), are shrubs or trees.
Species
- †N. aureavallis Hickey – EoceneYpresianIn the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age or lowest stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between and , is preceded by the Thanetian age and is followed by the Eocene Lutetian age....
(North DakotaNorth DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
), described from leaves found in the Golden Valley Formation in North Dakota, USA.
- N. lutea Willd.Carl Ludwig WilldenowCarl Ludwig Willdenow was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants...
– American lotus (Eastern United StatesEastern United StatesThe Eastern United States, the American East, or simply the East is traditionally defined as the states east of the Mississippi River. The first two tiers of states west of the Mississippi have traditionally been considered part of the West, but can be included in the East today; usually in...
, MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Greater AntillesGreater AntillesThe Greater Antilles are one of three island groups in the Caribbean. Comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico, the Greater Antilles constitute almost 90% of the land mass of the entire West Indies.-Greater Antilles in context :The islands of the Caribbean Sea, collectively known as...
, HondurasHondurasHonduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
)
- N. nucifera Gaertn.Joseph GaertnerJoseph Gaertner was a German botanist, best known for his work on seeds, De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum ....
– sacred or Indian lotus, also known as the Rose of India and the sacred water lily of HinduismHinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and BuddhismBuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. It is the national flowerFloral emblemIn a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. Some countries have a country-wide floral emblem; others in addition have symbols representing subdivisions. Different processes have been used to adopt these symbols - some are conferred by...
of IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and VietnamVietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. Its roots and seedsLotus seedLotus seeds or lotus nuts are the seeds of plants in the genus Nelumbo, particularly the species Nelumbo nucifera. The seeds are of great importance to East Asian cuisine and are used extensively in traditional Chinese medicine and in Chinese desserts. The seeds are most commonly sold in the...
are also used widely in Asian cooking.
Classification
Most academic botanists recognize Nelumbo in the family Nelumbonaceae, comprising only the single genus, Nelumbo, with probably two species of aquatic plantAquatic plant
Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments. They are also referred to as hydrophytes or aquatic macrophytes. These plants require special adaptations for living submerged in water, or at the water's surface. Aquatic plants can only grow in water or in soil that is...
s, found in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
(and perhaps some adjacent areas, but widely cultivated elsewhere).
The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
of Nelumbo can be distinguished from those of genera in the Nymphaeaceae
Nymphaeaceae
Nymphaeaceae is a family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called water lilies and live in freshwater areas in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains eight genera. There are about 70 species of water lilies around the world. The genus...
as they are peltate
Leaf shape
In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...
, that is they have fully circular leaves. Nymphaea
Nymphaea
Nymphaea is a genus of aquatic plants in the family Nymphaeaceae. There are about 50 species in the genus, which has a cosmopolitan distribution.-Name:The common name, shared with some other genera in the same family, is Water Lily....
, on the other hand, has a single characteristic notch from the edge in to the center of the lily pad. The seedpod
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
of Nelumbo is very distinctive.
APG
APG II system
The APG II system of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in April 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. It was a revision of the first APG system, published in 1998, and was superseded in 2009...
of 2003, recognizes Nelumbonaceae as a distinct family and places it in the order Proteales
Proteales
Proteales is the botanical name of an order of flowering plants. Such an order has been recognized by almost all taxonomists.-Families:The APG II system, of 2003, also recognizes this order, and places it in the clade eudicots with this circumscription:...
, in the eudicot clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
.
Earlier classification systems
The Cronquist systemCronquist system
The Cronquist system is a taxonomic classification system of flowering plants. It was developed by Arthur Cronquist in his texts An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants and The Evolution and Classification of Flowering Plants .Cronquist's system places flowering plants into two...
of 1981 recognizes the family but places it in the water lily order Nymphaeales
Nymphaeales
Nymphaeales is an order of plants, which consists of water lilies and other aquatic plants.This order is considered to be a basal, or early diverging, group of angiosperms...
. The Dahlgren system
Dahlgren system
One of the modern systems of plant taxonomy, the Dahlgren system was published by monocot specialist Rolf Dahlgren. His wife Gertrud Dahlgren carried on after his death.According to the extensive listing by Professor Reveal One of the modern systems of plant taxonomy, the Dahlgren system was...
of 1985 and Thorne system (1992)
Thorne system (1992)
A modern system of plant taxonomy, the Thorne system of plant classification was drawn up by the botanist Robert F. Thorne . He replaced it in 2000 with a new system. These two systems were published in:...
both recognize the family and place it in its own order, Nelumbonales.
Superhydrophobicity
The leaves of nelumbo are highly water repellent (superhydrophobic). They have given the name to what is called the lotus effectLotus effect
The lotus effect refers to the very high water repellence exhibited by the leaves of the lotus flower ....
.
Thermoregulation
N. nucifera regulates its temperatureThermoregulation
Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different...
in order to benefit insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s that are needed for it to reproduce. When the plant flowers, it heats
Thermogenic plants
Thermogenic plants have the ability to raise their temperature above that of the surrounding air. Heat is generated in the mitochondria, as a secondary process of cellular respiration called thermogenesis...
its blossoms to above 30 °C (86 °F) for as long as four days even when the air is as cool as 10 °C (50 °F). The heat releases an aroma that attracts certain insects, which fly into the flower to feed on nectar and pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
. According to Roger Seymour and Paul Schultze-Motel of Australia’s University of Adelaide, the heat also rewards insects with a stable environment that enhances their ability to eat, mate, and prepare for flight.
External links
- Nelumbonaceae in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval. Version: 3 May 2006.
- Nelumbonaceae in the Flora of North America
- Nelumbonaceae in the Flora of China
- NCBI Taxonomy Browser
- links at CSDL