2 New Books ** Edible Plants: An inspirational guide to choosing and growing unusual edible plants and Woodland Gardening (Forest) [Paperback]. more >>
Search Page Content
   Bookmark and Share
   
    By donating to PFAF, you can help support and expand our activities
    Plant Suppliers: Click here for a List
Nelumbo lutea - (Willd.)Pers.                
                 
Common Name American Water Lotus
Family Nelumbonaceae
Synonyms N. pentapentala. Nelumbium luteum
Known Hazards None known
Habitats Mostly flood plains of major rivers in ponds, lakes, pools in marshes and swamps, and backwaters of reservoirs from sea level to 400 metres[270].
Range Eastern N. America - Massachusetts to Minnesota, Nebraska and Louisiana.
Edibility Rating  
Medicinal Rating  
Care
Fully Hardy Water Plants Full sun

Summary       

Physical Characteristics       
 icon of manicon of flower
Nelumbo lutea is a PERENNIAL growing to 1.8 m (6ft) by 1 m (3ft 3in).
It is hardy to zone 4. It is in flower in July. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects, beetles.


Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It can grow in water.
Nelumbo lutea American Water Lotus


biolib.de
Nelumbo lutea American Water Lotus
www.fws.gov
   
Habitats       
 Pond;
Edible Uses                                         
Edible Parts: Oil;  Root;  Seed;  Stem.
Edible Uses: Oil.

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


Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally.

Poultice.

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

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]. One report says that the plant is almost extinct in the wild[213], whilst another says that it is sometimes an aggressive, difficult-to-eradicate weed in ponds, lakes, and reservoirs[270]. 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].
Plant Suppliers: Click here for a List

      You can download this page as a PDF

Expert comment                                         
 
      
Author                                         
(Willd.)Pers.
                                                                                 
Botanical References                                         
43200235
                                                                                 
Links / References                                         

[1]F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956
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.
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
[43]Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany.
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.
[46]Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants.
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.
Interesting reading.
[62]Elias. T. and Dykeman. P. A Field Guide to N. American Edible Wild Plants.
Very readable.
[95]Saunders. C. F. Edible and Useful Wild Plants of the United States and Canada.
Useful wild plants of America. A pocket guide.
[101]Turner. N. J. and Szczawinski. A. Edible Wild Fruits and Nuts of Canada.
A very readable guide to some wild foods of Canada.
[106]Coon. N. The Dictionary of Useful Plants.
Interesting reading but short on detail.
[159]McPherson. A. and S. Wild Food Plants of Indiana.
A nice pocket guide to this region of America.
[177]Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption.
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.
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
Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.
[200]Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992.
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.
A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.
[213]Weiner. M. A. Earth Medicine, Earth Food.
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.
[245]Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World.
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
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.
[270] Flora of N. America
An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses.

Readers comment                                         
 
QR Code

What's this?

This is a QR code (short for Quick Response) which gives fast-track access to our website pages. QR Codes are barcodes that can be read by mobile phone (smartphone) cameras. This QR Code is unique to this page. All plant pages have their own unique code. For more information about QR Codes click here.
1. Copy and print the QR code to a plant label, poster, book, website, magazines, newspaper etc and even t-shirts.
2. Smartphone users scan the QR Code which automatically takes them to the webpage the QR Code came from.
3. Smartphone users quickly have information on a plant directly for the pfaf.org website on their phone.
Rate This Plant                                         
Please rate this plants for how successful you have found it to be. You will need to be logged in to do this. Our intention is not to create a list of 'popular' plants but rather to highlight plants that may be rare and unusual and that have been found to be useful by website users. This hopefully will encourage more people to use plants that they possibly would not have considered before.
     
                                                                                 
Add a comment/link                                         

If you have important information about this plant that may help other users please add a comment or link below. Only comments or links that are felt to be directly relevant to a plant will be included. If you think a comment/link or information contained on this page is inaccurate or misleading we would welcome your feedback at admin@pfaf.org. If you have questions about a plant please use the Forum on this website as we do not have the resources to answer questions ourselves.

* Please note: the comments by website users are not necessarily those held by PFAF and may give misleading or inaccurate information.

Subject : Nelumbo lutea  
             

Links To add a link to another website with useful info add the details here
Name of Site
URL of Site
Details

                                        
                                                                                 
                                                                                 
   
 

All the information contained in these pages is Copyright (C) Plants For A Future, 1996-2012.
Plants For A Future is a charitable company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Charity No. 1057719, Company No. 3204567,
Web Design & Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Some information cannot be used for commercial reasons or be modified (but some can). Please view the copyright link for more information.