Plants→Lotuses→American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea)

Beautiful water garden plant with velvety non-wettable leaves. Water drops roll around on them like mercury, to the delight of kids. Tubers are extremely fragile and must be handled gently when planting or transplanting. Any injury to the tuber results in rotting and death of the plant. Heavy feeder once it starts up, and water must warm to above 70deg. to start growth. Take care to grow in at least 4 hours of full sun per day for blooming.

Many cultivars are too large for a small water garden, growing leaves 2ft. across and 5ft tall, but there are dwarf cultivars available that stay small enough for even a tub or half-barrel. Flowers are beautiful and fragrant, but rather fleeting, often lasting only 2 days in hot weather. The seed pods are interesting and decorative, but they should be removed if you want the plant to continue blooming.

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In Illinois it is a perennial wildflower known as an emergent aquatic plant. Roots (large tuber) are anchored in mud, but leaves and flowers are held above water surface. Flowers mid to late summer for appx. a month and a half. Lives in lakes, swamps, ponds, slow rivers, wetlands, and areas prone to flood. Large colonies, as found along the Illinois River, are not uncommon.
In the US it is native to the southeast, but has spread northward, reputedly by native Americans who brought it with them as it was/is a food source (the tuber and the seeds). Tuber or rhizome becomes very swollen and starchy late summer to fall. Seed is sometimes called "alligator corn."
May be the plant referred to as "macoupin" in the native indian language Miami-Illinois. There is a county in Illinois named Macoupin.

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There are two species of Lotus in the world. One is the Sacred or Indian Lotus of Asia and northern Australia, Nelumbo nucifera, which has white to pink flowers. The other is this American or Yellow Lotus (Nelumbo lutea), which is native from Honduras to Mexico and the Caribbean up through Florida to Texas up to Minnesota and southern Ontario into New England. It bears the white to yellow 4 to 11 inch wide, fragrant flowers with 22 to 25 petals in late spring into summer. Its bowl-like, round leaves are held 1 to 6 feet above the water. Its roots are anchored in the mud.

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Honey bees get pollen from this plant.

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