Sacred lotus
ಕಮಲकमलதாமரை
Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.
- light
- Full sun
- water
- Plenty
- tall
- 1.2 m
- wide
- 1.1 m
Nelumbonaceae
Also called Sacred Lotus, Indian Lotus, Bean of India
Formerly Nelumbium album, Nelumbium asiaticum, Nelumbium caspium, Nelumbium indicum, and 12 more
When it flowers
Flowers all year in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Rhizomatous hydrogeophyteKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- SubtropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Ukraine to N. Iran, Russian Far East to Trop. Asia and N. & NE. AustraliaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun (6 h or more)Read from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Height
- 99 cm to 1.5 mRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension 3–6 ft; RHS 1–1.5 m
- Spread
- 99 cm to 1.2 mRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension 3–4 ft; RHS 1–1.5 m
- Water
- Plenty: wet or constantly moistRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Flowers
- White, pinkRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Coldest it survives
- -14.7 °C (USDA zone 7b)Read from NC State Extension and RHS, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: NC State Extension -34.4 °C; RHS 5 °C
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- Japanese
- ハス, 蓮
- Chinese
- 荷花, 蓮花, 蓮
- French
- Lotus sacré
- Thai
- บัวหลวง, บัวหลวงอินเดีย
- Dutch
- Lotus
- Portuguese
- lótus, Flor-de-lótus
- Finnish
- Intianlootus
- Catalan
- Lotus de l'Índia
- root
- કમળ, Lèng-huă, Padma
- Hungarian
- Indiai Lótusz
- Indonesian
- Seroja
- Arabic
- نيلم جوزي
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- RHS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Nelumbo nucifera (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.