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Nelumbo lutea

Common name:	American Water Lotus	Family:	Nelumbonaceae
Author:	(Willd.)Pers.	Botanical references:	43, 200, 235
Synonyms:	Nelumbo pentapetala ((Walter.)Willd.), Nelumbium luteum (Willd.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Eastern N. America - Massachusetts to Minnesota, Nebraska and Louisiana.
Habitat:	Ponds, slow streams and estuaries[43]. This species is almost extinct in the wild[213].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	4	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	N. pentapetala sensu[P] Nymphaea pentapetala[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	American Lotus [S,B,P], Lotus, American [S],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	lutea = yellow;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Nymphaeales. Lotus-lily family

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 1.8m by 1m . It is hardy to zone 4. It is in flower in July. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). We rate it 4/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It can grow in water.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Pond.

Edible Uses

Oil; Root; Seed; Stem.

Root - cooked[1, 43, 46, 55, 159]. It is usually steeped in water prior to cooking in order to remove any bitterness[2]. The root is rich in starch[177], when baked it becomes sweet and mealy[95, 101], somewhat like a sweet potato[183]. The root is usually harvested in the autumn and will store for several months[257].
Leaves and young stems - cooked[62, 95, 101, 183].
Seed - raw or cooked[43, 46, 55, 95, 101]. A very agreeable taste[2, 159]. The seed can be dried, ground into a powder and used for making bread, thickening soups etc or can be eaten dry[62, 183]. The bitter tasting embryo is often removed. The half-ripe seed is said to be delicious raw or cooked, with a taste like chestnuts[183]. The seed contains up to 19% protein[213].
An edible oil can be extracted from the seed[207].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Poultice.

The root is pounded into a pulp, either fresh or dried, and used as a poultice for many inflammatory diseases[207].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Requires a rich loam[1] and a sunny position[188]. Succeeds in most soils[1]. Succeeds in water up to 0.6m deep[188].
Plants are half-hardy[188]. They should be hardy in the mild areas of Britain[1].
Grown as a food plant by the N. American Indians[1], it has been proposed for commercial cultivation[106].
The flowers are fragrant[245].

Propagation

Seed - file the seed across its centre, being very careful not to damage the flesh of the seed, and soak in warm water, changing the water twice a day until signs of germination are seen, which should be within 3 - 4 weeks at 25°c. Plant in individual pots just covered in water and increase the depth as the plant grows.
Division in spring as the plant comes into growth. Be very careful, the plants deeply resent root disturbance[200].

Scent

Flowers: Fresh: The flowers are fragrant[245].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[S] Image from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
[S] Illustration from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Nelumbonaceae.

[CHINA] Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[55] Harris. B. C. Eat the Weeds. Pivot Health 1973
Interesting reading.

[62] Elias. T. and Dykeman. P. A Field Guide to N. American Edible Wild Plants. Van Nostrand Reinhold 1982 ISBN 0442222009
Very readable.

[95] Saunders. C. F. Edible and Useful Wild Plants of the United States and Canada. Dover Publications 1976 ISBN 0-486-23310-3
Useful wild plants of America. A pocket guide.

[101] Turner. N. J. and Szczawinski. A. Edible Wild Fruits and Nuts of Canada. National Museum of Natural Sciences 1978
A very readable guide to some wild foods of Canada.

[106] Coon. N. The Dictionary of Useful Plants. Rodale Press 1975 ISBN 0-87857-090-x
Interesting reading but short on detail.

[159] McPherson. A. and S. Wild Food Plants of Indiana. Indiana University Press 1977 ISBN 0-253-28925-4
A nice pocket guide to this region of America.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[188] Brickell. C. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. 1990 ISBN 0-86318-386-7
Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[207] Coffey. T. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. Facts on File. 1993 ISBN 0-8160-2624-6
A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.

[213] Weiner. M. A. Earth Medicine, Earth Food. Ballantine Books 1980 ISBN 0-449-90589-6
A nice book to read though it is difficult to look up individual plants since the book is divided into separate sections dealing with the different medicinal uses plus a section on edible plants. Common names are used instead of botanical.

[235] Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

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Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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