02/04/2022
🍀🍀Lotus is scientifically known as Nelumbo nucifera. It’s also called sacred lotus and Indian lotus.
✅ It’s cultivated in many parts of the world but especially in Asia, including India and Southeast Asia. It grows in water and is often confused with water lilies, featuring a bowl shape with petals and green leaves. Its flowers can be white, pink, red, or blue.
✅ The lotus plant has been eaten as a food for 7,000 years in Asia. Its stem and roots are often added to soups and stir-fries, but its leaves, flowers, and seeds are also used in cooking (1, 2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source).
✅ Lotus flowers are popular ornamental plants in Asia. They symbolize longevity, purity, and beauty in Buddhism and Hinduism, giving background to the nickname sacred lotus (2Trusted Source).
✅ Additionally, its stems, seeds, leaves, and flowers have long been used in traditional medicine preparations. Lotus was used to treat diarrhea, infection, cough, high blood pressure, and fever, among other ailments (1, 2Trusted Source).
✅ Lotus is available in many preparations, including dried root, teas, powders, capsules, and extracts.
Today, it’s studied for its possible health benefits. Researchers are particularly interested in the plethora of beneficial compounds found in the plant, including flavonoids and alkaloids .
