• Family : NELUMBONACEAE
  (Lotus Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : KAMAL FAMILY (कमल फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : NELUMBONACEAE
• Synonym(s) : Nelumbium speciosum Willd; Nymphaea nelumbo L.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.
• Common name : Sacred Lotus, Indian Lotus
• Vernacular name : Kamal, Kanwal (Hindi); Kamala, Thavare (Kannada); Chenthamarai (Tamil); Kaluva, Kalung, Tamara, Erra tamara (Telugu); Padma, Ranga padma, Dhala padma (Oria); Kamala (Sanskrit); Kamal, Kankadi (Marathi); Aravindam, Thamara, Chenthamara, Venthamara (Malayalam)
• Habit : Herb
• Habitat : Fresh water ponds and lakes
• Comments / notes : In ponds, lakes and other water bodies. Widely cultivated. Flowers are sacred and reared in places of worship. The internodes of the rhizomes and seeds are edible. The flowers are used as medicines and leaves are used as dinner plate.
• Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Common
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : Akola district, Nagpur district
  • Odisha : All districts of Odisha
  • Tamil Nadu : Coimbatore district, Madurai district, Ramanathapuram district, Villipuram district, Cuddalore district, Tiruchirapalli district, Tirunelveli district
• World Distribution : South and East Asia to Eastern Russia and North Australia
• Conservation Status : Least Concern (LC)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2002 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 1; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Kamble & Pradhan, 1988. Flora of Akola District, Maharashtra. Botanical Survey of India; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Nelumbo nucifera. Downloaded on 21 November 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

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Field Image(s)