Nelumbo lutea

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Nelumbo lutea

Nelumbo lutea, the American Lotus, also known as Yellow Lotus or Water-chinquapin, is a flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
of the order Proteales.

the Asian species Nelumbo nucifera
Nelumbo nucifera

Nelumbo nucifera, known by a number of names including Indian lotus, sacred lotus, bean of India, or simply lotus. Botanically, Nelumbo nucifera may also be referred to by its Synonym , Nelumbium speciosum or Nymphaea nelumbo. This plant is an aquatic perennial....
, American lotus is an emergent aquatic plant. It grows in lake

Lake

A lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all....
s and swamp

Swamp

A swamp is a wetland featuring temporary or permanent inundation of large areas of land, by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a substantial number of hammock , or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation....
s, as well as areas subject to flood

Flood

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land, a deluge. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide....
ing. The roots are anchored in the mud, but the leaves and flowers emerge above the water's surface.

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Encyclopedia

Nelumbo lutea, the American Lotus, also known as Yellow Lotus or Water-chinquapin, is a flowering plant

Flowering plant

Description

Like the Asian species Nelumbo nucifera
Nelumbo nucifera

Nelumbo nucifera, known by a number of names including Indian lotus, sacred lotus, bean of India, or simply lotus. Botanically, Nelumbo nucifera may also be referred to by its Synonym , Nelumbium speciosum or Nymphaea nelumbo. This plant is an aquatic perennial....
, American lotus is an emergent aquatic plant. It grows in lake

Lake

A lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all....
s and swamp

Swamp

Flood

Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the small stalk attaching the leaf blade to the Plant stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem....
s of the leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
may extend as much as two meters (6 ft) and end in a broad round leaf blade.

Flowering begins in late spring and may continue into the summer. The flowers may be white to pale yellow, from which the species gets its epithet lutea (Latin for yellow

Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, but does not significantly stimulate the S cone cells; that is, light with much red and green but not very much blue....
).

The native distribution of the species in the southeastern United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a democratic republic in Central America. It was formerly known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras ....
, and the West Indies, but it has apparently been distributed northwards in the United States by Native Americans who carried the plant with them as a food source.

Uses

This plant has a large root that was used by Native Americans

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii....
as a food source. This may be the plant called "macoupin" in Miami-Illinois.

It is widely planted in ponds for its foliage and flowers. American Lotus has established itself as a weed in some areas, spreading via creeping rhizomes and seeds. This species has been crossed with N. nucifera to create many hybrids. Seed

Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s may be propagated by scarifying the pointed tip of the seed with a file then soaking in water, or by division of established plants.