Nelumbo is a genus of water flowers commonly known as lotus (Hindi: कमल) and the only genus in the family Nelumbonaceae. Nelumbo is what is most commonly meant by the rather ambiguous term “lotus”. The word Nelumbo originates from the Sinhalese word Nelum.
Nelumbonaceae is the botanical name for a family of flowering plants. Such a family has been recognized by only a few taxonomists: the plants involved have often been included in family Nymphaeaceae. It is sometimes called the “lotus family” or “lotus-lily family”.
Nelumbo is superficially similar to but not closely related to the water-lilies of the family Nymphaeaceae. The leaves of Nelumbo can be distinguished from those of genera in the Nymphaeaceae as they are peltate, that is they have fully circular leaves. Nymphaea, on the other hand, has a single characteristic notch from the edge in to the center of the lilypad. The central seed pod of Nelumbo is also a distinguishing feature.
Nelumbo nucifera is particularly well known as it is the sacred lotus of Hinduism and Buddhism and is the national flower of India. Its roots are also used widely in Asian cooking.
The Bahá’à House of Worship in India is shaped as a Lotus flower.
The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, of 1998), does recognize this family and places it in the order Proteales, in the clade eudicots.
The family consist of only a single genus, Nelumbo, of probably two species, of aquatic plants, found in North America and Asia (and perhaps some adjacent areas, but widely cultivated).
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