There are many amazing things in our Universe. Allow me to introduce you to one of them, the glorious lotus plant.
Meet the Lotus
* The lovely Nelumbo Nucifera plant we call the lotus is a prehistoric plant growing continually on Earth for nearly 145,000 years.
* In Tibetan, it’s known as Padma, in Sanskrit, Padme; and in Japanese, it’s Hasu.
* The Lotus has been revered as sacred and is associated with knowledge, wisdom, serenity, longevity, spiritual awakening, and enlightenment.
* It’s been immortalized in works of art such as paintings, mandalas, sculptures, and written texts.
* Lotus plants grow wild and are easy to cultivate in some parts of the US, where they’re most often found in southern climates. They flourish in East Asia, Japan, China, India, and Australia. Surprisingly this plant has been found growing in the southern Himalayas!
* Though sometimes referred to as a water lily, it’s not to be confused with members of true water lilies of the family Nymphaeaceae.
Description and Growth Habit
* Seeds are deposited on the nutrient-rich muddy bottom of ponds, slow-moving rivers, and river deltas.
* They sprout, take root, and eventually develop into rhizomes that firmly anchor into the deep muddy soil.
* Leaves develop and grow on long stalks, eventually reaching beyond the surface of the muddy waters up to 7 feet in length. These large ruffled leaves can spread up to 31 inches in diameter and may float on the water’s surface or be held well above it.
* Flowers rise up and out of the water on thick stems that can be up to 8 feet in height. The beautifully radiant flowers can spread out to a diameter of 12 to 14 inches. Some cultivated varieties have an extraordinary number of flower petals. The greatest number recorded for any species of plant is the Japanese variety Ohmi Myoren, meaning strange lotus, with between 2,000 and 5,000 petals per bloom!
Bio-Rhythmic Cycles
* Lotus flower buds emerge from very muddy waters and continue to develop and grow taller, up to 8 feet in height.
* Once they unfold and are open blossoms, they begin a bio-rhythm that cycles and repeats each and every day. As evening approaches, the flowers begin to close up their petals. Then they dip down below the pond’s surface to sleep in the murky water.
When the morning light awakens them, they push up through the water and reopen to the shining sun. You might expect them to be soiled and muddy when they resurface, but that’s where the magic happens. These amazing plants are flawless and beautifully gleaming, exhibiting no sign of their nighttime abode. They reside in muddy pond water yet are untainted.
Their bio-rhythm is called the Lotus Effect because of their amazing water-repellent and self-cleaning abilities. Their ultra-hydrophobic properties use a nanosomic architecture, which allows dirty water droplets to roll off the surface of the blossoms as they emerge and reopen. The result is gorgeous pristine flowers.
Nutritional and Medicinal Benefits
* For ages, throughout Asia, every part of the plant, including seeds, rhizomes, leaves, blossoms, and seedpods, has been consumed as a nutritional food source.
* The plant is rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, copper, and iron.
* The lotus nut (seed) is rich in protein, fiber, and B vitamins. It contains a very special coating with disease-fighting properties and is a natural antibiotic.
* The rhizomes are powerhouses loaded with nutritional and medicinal qualities, providing antioxidants, improving brain and cardiac health, assisting digestion and weight loss, and increasing energy levels.
* Lotus flowers are dried and steeped in hot water to brew delightful teas.
* People the world over have been drinking tea made from the Blue Lotus to enhance and amplify psychic insight.
* Specific parts of the Red Lotus are known for their calming and mildly hallucinogenic effects when brewed or smoked.
* The lotus’s amazing genetic properties and regenerative capabilities have long been associated with longevity. Thirty-three years ago, scientists regenerated and grew dormant seeds that are estimated to be 1,300 years old!
Surprising Biological Diversity
* The lotus plant growing in its watery environment develops a habitat complete with food, shelter, and warmth. It supports a variety of fish, amphibians, insects, and microbes.
* Surprisingly, the blossoms are self-heating, having the ability to heat to 86 degrees Fahrenheit and maintain it even when the outside temperature is 50 degrees.
* Forty lotus blossoms can generate heat equivalent to that of an average incandescent light bulb.
* This thermoregulation attracts insects, and sometimes they end up sleeping over. Beetles and bees visit the lotus to gather pollen and nutrients. Occasionally they rest too long and get trapped inside the blossom as it closes for the night. They are kept clean, dry, and warm, have ready food, and sleep comfortably on a beautiful soft bed. Life can’t get much better for them. It’s like staying at an Omni resort hotel.
To Learn More
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_nucifera
www.healthyfocus.org/benefits-of-lotus-root
Leave a Reply