​purity, divinity​

​Buddhists associated the lotus with the image of Buddha: when he was born, a generous rain of lotuses fell from the sky. The boy immediately took the first seven steps, and where his feet left traces, lotuses grew. The most famous yoga pose, in which meditative concentration and the sharpest concentration of attention are achieved, was called the “lotus” pose for a reason. Buddha is also depicted sitting on a blossoming lotus flower: its root is like matter, the stem stretching upward is the soul, and the flower that does not touch the water and the sun-drenched flower is spirit. “Even living among the mud of a swamp, you can remain spotlessly clean,” said the Buddha. Therefore, the lotus position symbolizes nirvana - the complete opening of the soul and spirit. Buddha's Paradise was also represented as gardens with blooming white, blue, yellow, pink and red lotuses in ponds.​

​The Egyptians used Nile lotus oil in love magic: they believed that by dropping them on the three main points - behind the ears and in the center of the forehead - they formed a pyramid, with its apex facing the stars - and this made them especially charming. The lotus also served as a talisman: by inhaling the aroma of the flower, a person received its protection, and if he constantly wore a stem, leaf, petal or lotus nut on his body, the gods bestowed him with blessings, happiness and immortality.​

​Dropping my sleepy head

The lotus aura can change a person’s consciousness and direct his thoughts to more spiritual spheres. It is not without reason that in the East, from ancient times to this day, the lotus has served as the most popular symbol of Spiritual development, as well as a symbol of almost all eastern deities.​

​B Ancient Greece There were widespread stories about people eating lotus - “lotophagi” (“lotus eaters”). According to legend, anyone who tastes lotus flowers will never want to part with the homeland of this flower.​

​In Taoist folklore, the virtuous maiden He Xiangu was depicted holding in her hands the “flower of open heartfulness” - a lotus or a staff with elements of this flower. Its image plays an important role in Chinese and Buddhist art, in particular in painting: - ancient Chinese artists painted a lotus lake in the western part of the sky. The lotus growing on this lake, according to their ideas, communicated with the soul of a deceased person. Depending on the degree of a person’s virtue in earthly life, the flowers bloomed or withered. Colorful photos of blooming lotuses will give happiness and good luck in the quest to comprehend all the secrets of nature. .​

​The mythopoetic tradition of Ancient India represented the earth as a giant lotus blooming on the surface of the waters, and heaven as a huge lake overgrown with beautiful pink lotuses, where righteous, pure souls live.​

​Lotus flowers are amazingly beautiful and always face the sun. Purity and beauty are what make it sacred. Although the lotus grows from muddy water, it always remains dry and radiates purity and freshness. The reason for this is the special structure of its petals and leaves: they can repel water and self-clean. The water collects in drops and flows off, collecting everything from the leaf that could contaminate it.​

​Lotus - the sacred flower of Buddhism surprises scientists all over the world; its leaves and petals always remain clean. The flower serves as a symbol of the spirit that has risen above sensory world since he keeps his unsullied White flower emerging from muddy water. This is explained by its rough surface, visible through a microscope, from which all dirt is washed off by rain.​

Rhizome (rhizome) of water lily. Fresh lotus roots are large and covered with a red-brown skin that must be removed before use. It is similar in texture and color to potatoes, but voids along the root are created at the cut beautiful pattern- flower; therefore, lotus roots are a popular garnish for dishes. Canned lotus roots are always available for sale.​

​depending on where, scouts have 3 petals: care for the younger ones, honor and dignity,​

​In the Feng Shui movement, which is popular today all over the world, images of a lotus flower or its glass figurines are used to awaken spiritual consciousness and pacify the home atmosphere, to activate zones of wealth and partnership.​

An ancient Egyptian proverb says: “Many lotuses on the water - there will be great fertility.” And this was already a completely earthly happiness for the Egyptian people - after all, hearty bread was baked from lotus fruits rich in starch, fiber and sugars and medicinal infusions were prepared.​

​Lotus flowers have perhaps the richest and most universal symbolism in the world and are described in a large number of the most sacred myths and legends. They are known not only for their exquisite beauty and delightful aroma, but also for their healing properties - pacifying the spirit and healing the body, giving vitality and confidence, attractiveness and long youth. In fact, the lotus is the most sacred plant of the Eastern countries, which unanimously identify it with light, pristine purity, chastity and self-knowledge.​

Lotus in human life

​The use of lotus is especially recommended for those people who are too mired in the material world, who all the time think only about work, money and profit, completely forgetting about the second side of their personality - the spiritual. If such a person carries lotus petals with him or sits near this plant for at least half an hour, then gradually his character and consciousness will change. His nature will become more refined, he will gradually begin to turn his attention to spiritual matters.

​An ordinary lotus has fruits that are not sweet, but the lotus flower is another species (lotus tree) that has sweet fruits. The lotus tree, along with the flower, has considerable symbolism. In the same Greek mythology The nymph Lotis (Lotis), fleeing from Priapus who was pursuing her, turned into a lotus tree.​

​The ancient Indian epic "Mahabharata" describes a lotus that had a thousand petals, shone like the sun and scattered a delicious aroma around. This lotus, according to legend, lengthened life, restored youth and beauty.​

​The sacred lotus flower has been worshiped for many centuries, it has occupied place of honor in religious rituals, traditions and legends, this is evidenced by numerous monuments of writing, architecture and art. More than five and a half thousand years ago, the Egyptians depicted lotuses on tombs, and on the altars of sacrifices it symbolized the resurrection from the dead, although in Egyptian hieroglyphs it meant joy and pleasure. Women, going to visit, decorated their hair with lotus flowers and held their bouquets in their hands.​

​Pearl in a lotus flower!​

​Preparing lotus root​

​Egyptians have life...​

​Homer described in the Odyssey a long-standing myth about “lotophages” - people who tasted the lotus and forgot their past life and those who do not want to leave the place where the magical flower blooms - Libya (it was in such a place that Odysseus’s companions wanted to stay forever). And the ancient Romans had a legend about the nymph Lotis, pursued by Priapus, who turned into a lotus flower. Hercules made one of his journeys in a golden boat in the shape of a lotus. Ovid's Metamorphoses tells the story of Dryope, who picked a lotus, being transformed into a lotus tree. This flower was also dedicated to Aphrodite and Hera.​

​The ancient Vedic civilization considered the Lotus to be the flower of Life, since it was present in the original chaos, and gave rise to all things: The Upanishads describe the earth as a lotus flower floating on the surface of cosmic infinity. Hindus depicted the throne of many Hindu gods as a lotus. From the navel of the first god in the world, Vishnu, a lotus once grew, and from this flower Brahma, the creator of the worlds, appeared. The gods plowed the ocean of milk - and then the goddess of happiness and beauty Lakshmi emerged from its depths with a lotus in her hands, becoming the wife of Vishnu.​

Lotus Life Power

​The exquisite child of Flora has enough reasons for such veneration: having originated in the muddy bottom, the lotus bud overcomes the thickness of the water and blooms at dawn under the first rays of the sun - and at sunset it closes its petals again and plunges into the dark, cool depths. So the lotus began to personify the Sun, the movement of heavenly bodies, the change of day and night. In addition, this flower symbolizes the Universe, eternity and time - past, present and future - because the same plant simultaneously has seeds-nuts, flowers and buds that have not yet opened. Lotus fruits that fall into infertile soil can sleep for a century and a half, and then again give life to beautiful flowers. Combining the elements of earth (the bottom of a reservoir), water, air and fire (the sun), the lotus turns out to be inseparably linked with the creation of the world.​

​In 1881, during excavations of the tomb of Pharaoh Ramses II and Princess Nsi-Khonsu, several dried blue lotus buds were found, which had lain in the ground for 3,000 years and retained their color. Among the dazzling riches of the tomb, these flowers made the greatest impression. This is Magic force and the charm of flowers.​

It is not for nothing that the lotus is a symbol of purity in almost all traditions. He is able to cleanse the space around him from negative vibrations. The aura of this plant exudes such a powerful energy field that no evil can coexist next to it. The room where the lotus is located becomes sacred from its very presence, which is why the lotus is so often used to consecrate the altar.​

​How medicinal plant, the flower was known in China several thousand years before new era. In traditional Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Tibetan medicine, all parts of the plant were used to prepare medicines - whole seeds or their large mealy germs, receptacle, petals, pedicels, stamens, pistils, leaves, roots and rhizomes.​

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What does the lotus symbolize?

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What does a lotus flower mean?

Pie Oksana

​Peel the lotus root, cut it into thin round slices, place immediately in acidified water (1.5-2 cups of cold water and 2-3 tablespoons of rice vinegar) for 5 minutes, then rinse with cold water.​

Alexey Kramar

​Lotus - This is a universal eastern symbol (in the West - a lily or a rose). Has solar and lunar aspects. Means death and life. Appears in images of the Sun gods in Egypt and India, as well as in images of the lunar deities of Semitic religions. Depicted by the Great Mother as the goddess of the Moon. This flower was originally the luxurious Great Waters Lily, while creatures come and go. The lotus is the cosmos rising from chaos, like the Sun rising from the lotus at the beginning of the world. This is the Flower of Light, the result of the interaction of the creative forces of the Sun and the lunar forces of water. Being a product of the interaction of fire and water, it symbolizes spirit and matter. Being the universal basis of all things, it flourishes in the waters of limitless possibilities. Lotus is a solar base, matrix. Opening at dawn and closing at sunset, it personifies its rebirth, and therefore any other rebirth, creation, fertility, renewal and immortality. Lotus is perfect beauty. The open flower, taking the form of a rosette, personifies the wheel of the solar matrix, the solar wheel of the continuous cycle of existence. In addition, it forms a cup, symbolizing the receptive feminine principle. According to Iamblichus, the lotus is a symbol of perfection, as its leaves, flowers and fruits form a circle - the Lotus represents spiritual unfoldment, beginning its growth from mud and mucus and growing upward through muddy waters to open in the sun and in the light of Heaven. Its root represents insolubility; the stem is the umbilical cord that binds “man to his origins; the flower has the shape sun rays; the box with seeds symbolizes the fruitful power of creation. His flower rests in the still waters. All potential possibilities are hidden in the bud. Its flowering is expansion, enlightenment, the heart, the cosmic wheel of the world of phenomena. The seed pods symbolize creation. The lotus is a mover on the waters (the hole in the seed pod is smaller than the seeds inside it and when the pod bursts, the seeds scatter to take root where the water carries them). The lotus is also a symbol of an extraordinary or divine birth, emerging unsullied from the mud of the waters. The gods depicted emerging from the lotus symbolize the world growing from the element of water, while the lotus symbolizes the Sun emerging from the initial waters of Chaos. Being solar-lunar, the lotus is also androgynous, self-sufficient and immaculate in its purity. The image of a flame rising from a lotus is interpreted as a divine revelation, and the union of the dualistic forces of fire and water, the Sun and the Moon, man and woman. The lotus flower and leaf can support existence at any level. In the Assyrian, Phoenician and Hittite cultures, the lotus has funerary significance and personifies death and rebirth, resurrection and future life, the productive forces of nature. If the lotus is depicted next to a bull, it has a solar meaning and is associated with the Sun gods. Depicted with a cow, it becomes lunar and an attribute of the Moon goddesses. He often appears in images together with a lion, ram, goose, swan and swastika. The lotus associated with the cobra signifies the life-giving and death-defying power of the Great Mother; the dual nature of the manifested world; tension between opposites in the process of transformation into ultimate unity. The thousand-petalled lotus is a symbol of the Sun, the firmament, and in relation to a person it symbolizes the skull. The lotus throne means perfection, harmony in the universe, the pinnacle of spiritual perfection. Two lotuses mean the Upper and Lower Waters. In Buddhism, the lotus symbolizes the primordial waters; potential capabilities of the manifested world and man in it; spiritual opening and blossoming; wisdom, nirvana. The lotus stem is the world axis on which stands the flower of the lotus throne - the pinnacle of the spirit. The lotus is dedicated to the Buddha, who appeared from the lotus in the form of a flame and was called the Pearl of the Lotus.​
But the old legend of the North American Indians describes the birth of the “lotus” in a much more inspired and epic way: a brave and powerful tribal leader shot an arrow into the sky, which the North Star and Venus wanted to receive. When they rushed to catch her, they collided with their foreheads - bright sparks rained down on the ground and fell into the reservoir. From them white water lilies appeared.

Victor Gusev

​In China during the Taoist era, the lotus was considered sacred plant: the maiden He Xin-gu, one of the Eight Immortals, was depicted with a lotus flower in her hands. The structure of the Universe in Buddhist belief is understood as countless lotuses, contained successively one within the other ad infinitum. The image of this flower was necessarily present in Chinese painting - in the western part of the sky, artists depicted the “heavenly lotus lake” - so in Ancient China understood a paradise where every flower communicated with souls. If the deceased person was virtuous, the lotus blossomed; otherwise, it withered.

Julia SL

​Inheriting their gods, the pharaohs decorated their heads with flowers of the “heavenly blue lily”, wore scepters in the form of a lotus flower on a long stem, and the tombs of their rulers were strewn with its petals - so that they would be resurrected in afterlife. Five lotuses were the emblem of Upper Egypt, and the buds were engraved on gold coins. Lotus wreaths were used to decorate statues of gods, temples, and the heads of important guests, and at feasts servants carried fresh flowers like dishes, and replaced them with fresh ones at the first signs of wilting. Lotus was used in Egyptian architecture - on columns, as a wall decoration. The Egyptians even used the image of a lotus as a hieroglyph for the number 1000.​

Lotus is a flower whose history goes back to ancient times. The flower itself is a large water lily, the petals and leaves of which are covered with a waxy coating, thanks to which they do not get wet and always remain above the water. Lotus has very powerful rhizomes. Leaves can be submerged, floating or erect. Lotus flowers can reach up to 30 cm in diameter and come in pink, cream or yellow color. When the lotus blooms, its flower is always facing the Sun. For this reason, and also because the lotus is used in cooking and folk medicine, this flower is considered a sacred plant in some cultures.

The lotus flower opens at dawn and closes in the evening. Early in the morning the flower can be bright pink, and in the afternoon you can distinguish shades on the flower from white to pink. It is best to pick lotus flowers at dawn to use them in medicine or cooking.

The Lotus flower is listed in the Red Book. Therefore, such flowers can be picked only in specially designated areas where lotus is grown for medicinal and food needs. In order to grow a lotus, it is necessary to create a pond measuring at least 3 by 3 meters and at least 70 cm deep. In the summer, the bottom of the reservoir must be cleared of duckweed and branches so that the bottom and water remain clean. Ideal option line the bottom of the reservoir with pebbles so that silt does not accumulate at the bottom. Silt can reduce the depth of a pond, which can even lead to the death of a lotus flower. The best option for the lotus it will be if the pond is shaded by a tree.

You can plant a lotus manually if planting occurs using rhizomes. If seeds or germinated seeds are planted, they can simply be thrown into the water. It is best to plant reeds along the edges of the pond to make the lotus more comfortable in winter.

The lotus fruit is located inside the flower, and has the shape of a cone with seeds in the form of dark-colored nuts with a very dense skin and a hole so that the embryo can breathe. Lotus seeds are distinguished by their vitality. They can survive for several hundred years and give life once they get into the right habitat. There is a known case when lotus seeds lay for 1200 years and gave birth to a new flower as soon as they were placed in a pond with the necessary conditions.

There are two varieties of lotus:

Nut lotus - characterized by a large pink flower with a pleasant aroma. Flowering period – July – August. Distributed in India, China, Japan, the Far East (Russia), Australia and other regions.

Yellow lotus (American) - common in South and North America, which is why it got its name. The color of its flowers can range from cream to snow-white.

Lotus Flower video:

Today, lotus seeds are used to make butter, flour, starch and sugar. Lotus seeds and rhizomes are very rich in vitamin C, sugar, fats and starch. It is also used in cooking and folk medicine. At the same time, in cooking it can be used as potato dishes, since lotus is rich in starch.

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Family: lotus (Nelumbonaceae).

Homeland: North Africa, South Asia.

Form: herbaceous plant.

Description

Lotus is herbaceous perennial, living in aquatic environment. The plant has a thick rhizome lying in the soil at the bottom of the reservoir, emergent leaves and flowers on long petioles. Large, up to 70 cm in diameter, funnel-shaped lotus leaves are covered with a waxy coating, so they do not get wet. They rise above the water, which distinguishes them from nymphs and water lilies. Large, up to 30 cm in diameter, single multi-petaled lotus flowers, slightly raised above water surface Thanks to the high peduncle, they can be colored pink, yellow, or cream. A blooming lotus changes its location following the movement of the sun. The lotus fruit is a cone-shaped capsule with numerous seeds and nuts.

In the cultures of India, Egypt, China, Sri Lanka and some other countries, the lotus is considered a sacred plant.

The lotus family has only two species:

(N. nucifera) is a relict representative of the lotus family. Spectacular large flowers, bright pink at the beginning of flowering, gradually change color to white, have a subtle pleasant aroma. The seed method of propagation of this species is not effective; plants are propagated by rhizomes.

or American lotus (N. lutea) is distributed throughout the North American and South American continents. The flower is quite large, fragrant, and can be painted snow-white or cream.

Growing conditions

The optimal place for planting a lotus is a pond with standing or slowly flowing water measuring at least 3x3 meters and a depth of about one meter (at least 70 cm), partially or completely shaded by a spreading tree. The bottom of the pond is laid out with small pebbles, on top of which a layer of loamy soil is poured.

Application

Lotuses are decorative throughout the spring-summer season; they bloom from mid-July to August. Lotuses are used for landscaping garden ponds, or grown as a container plant in decorative containers. Exotic and exquisite lotuses will fit perfectly into almost any garden style, but these wonderful aquatic plants are especially appropriate in gardens.

The rhizomes and seeds of the lotus are eaten and also used in cosmetology and folk medicine.

Care

A pond with lotuses must be regularly cleaned of duckweed. Lotuses should not be allowed to grow near the shore - between coastline and a group of plants should remain a stripe clean water. This is necessary so that the dying parts of the lotus do not increase the layer of silt. In spring, it makes sense to thin out too dense lotus thickets. During drought, water should be added to the pond, maintaining it at an optimal level for the plants. Lotuses do not need feeding.

A lotus wintering in a pond with a non-freezing bottom does not need to be prepared for the cold season. In a shallow pond, the plant can be left for the winter, having first drained the water from the pond and covered the rhizomes with fallen leaves, polystyrene foam, sawdust, and moss. Another way to overwinter lotus is in containers. Lotus rhizomes are moved into a container along with bottom soil. The substrate should be lightly covered with water. Until spring, the containers are kept in a cool place, making sure that the lotuses do not begin to grow prematurely.

Reproduction

Lotus is propagated by seeds and rhizomes. The advantages of the first method are relative simplicity and better adaptation of plants to their environment; the second method is quite labor-intensive, but it allows you to see the lotus bloom 1-3 years earlier than with the seed method.

When growing lotus from seeds, you should take lotus nuts collected from late August to October. Seeds are germinated in warm water at a temperature of +18...+25C⁰. The sprouted seeds are moved into a container filled with 15-20 cm of water. A small layer of garden soil mixed with clay is placed at the bottom of the container. As the lotuses grow, water is added to the vessel. Young plants are moved into the pond only when spring frosts are guaranteed to end. When growing in containers and planting in a pond, it is strictly unacceptable to drown lotus leaves - this is detrimental to the plants. Lotuses grown from seeds bloom in the 5-6th year of life.

The elongated, banana-shaped rhizomes of the lotus are harvested for planting in the same season as the seeds. This is done exclusively by hand and with great care - care must be taken not to damage the small fibrous roots. Rhizomes are also planted by hand. To do this, oblong holes are made in the bottom soil and “bananas” are placed in them. These processes are labor-intensive in themselves, but this is the only way, if the maintenance conditions are met, to achieve rapid flowering of lotuses. If adult rhizomes (from 8 years of age) are used for transplantation, then the first lotus flowers can be seen within 1-2 years.

Diseases and pests

Lotus is a very disease resistant plant. Its main natural enemy is aphids, which attack unopened lotus buds. You can get rid of it by carefully using insecticides, or simply washing aphids off the plants in the morning with a stream of water from a hose. Occasionally, lotus can be damaged by caterpillars. To combat them can also be used in special drugs, but only in limited doses - their use should not disturb the pond ecosystem.

Popular lotus varieties:

• "Alba Grandiflora"– large white flowers;
• "Lily Pons"– cup-shaped flowers of salmon or pinkish color;
• "Kermesina"– red double flowers;
• "Mrs Perry D. Slocum"– large pink flowers, acquiring a creamy tint over time;
• "Moto Nerd"– container variety with deep crimson flowers.

Lotus- a plant that was known back in Ancient times. This flower is the only representative of the lotus family and is none other than a beautiful water lily. The plant has beautiful fragrant flowers and large leaves (see photo).

In Buddhism (and not only) it is customary to consider the lotus a sacred flower, the seeds of which symbolize life itself, since they are very durable. Botanist Jane Shen-Miller managed to germinate the seeds of a plant that had been lying at the bottom of a dry reservoir for several centuries. After the seeds sprouted, botanists were able to determine that one of them was more than 1200 years old!

Collection and storage

Collecting lotus is allowed only in places where it is grown specifically for food and medicinal purposes as a vegetable plant. Lotus is a plant that is listed in the Red Book. Lotus flowers are collected before dawn, when they begin to open. At this time of day, the flowers are most fragrant and ready to eat. The seeds are collected in August or September and dried in the sun.

The plant should be stored dried. Lotus seeds are stored very well; they can easily last 100-200 years. All parts of the plant must be stored in a ventilated area to avoid rotting.

Types of flower:

Lotus fruits look like the bell of a watering can; small nuts ripen in their cells.

Growing

Growing lotus is a troublesome business. First you need to dig a pond, the minimum dimensions of which should be 3x3 m. The depth of the pond should be at least 70 cm. The location of the pond also depends great importance: the best option will dig a pond in the shade of a tree that will protect delicate flowers in winter from freezing. In summer, the reservoir must be cleaned of duckweed and branches. It is better to line the bottom of the reservoir with pebbles: this will allow the water to remain clean longer. Due to the fact that silt will form at the bottom of the reservoir, the water level will decrease, which can lead to the lotus freezing.

Once the pond is ready, you need to get the rhizomes of the flower itself. Seeds as well as lotus rhizomes are collected from late August to late October. The plant is planted manually, if these are rhizomes. Seeds or sprouted seeds can simply be thrown into water. To keep the water in the pond cleaner, you can add several frogs there. You can plant reeds along the edges of the pond; this will add attractiveness to the pond and help the lotus endure winter more easily.

Beneficial features

The beneficial properties of lotus are known to the peoples of Asia. The lotus is considered a symbol of purity in many cultures. The flower itself really has absolutely clean petals all the time, this is due to the waxy coating covering them. Lotus contains mineral compounds, vitamin C, nufarin, nelumbin. Nufarin is an alkaloid that has a positive effect on nervous system. Lotus seeds contain magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, zinc. They also contain a flavonoid, which prevents tissue inflammation (the seeds even restore damaged tissue).

Lotus is very popular as a cosmetic product. Lotus oil and its dry extract are used in cosmetology. Lotus is excellent whitens skin, it is included in products that get rid of age spots and freckles. The plant cleanses the skin of blackheads and refreshes the skin. Lotus oil is suitable for oily and problematic skin (it will help remove inflammation). Lotus oil has a light aroma that has a calming effect on the nervous system.

Use in cooking

In cooking, the lotus has found application as a component of traditional Asian dishes. The rhizomes of the plant are rich in starch, and their preparation is no different from preparing potato dishes. The seeds, as well as the rhizome of the plant, are ground into flour, from which bread is baked. Bread made from lotus seeds is considered a delicacy. The seeds are rich in proteins and are used to make vegetable soups.

The seeds of the plant are also suitable for making desserts; for this purpose they are candied. To prepare this dessert, you need to wash the lotus seeds, peel them and steam them until tender. At the same time, dissolve sugar in hot water and bring the mixture to a boil. Lotus seeds are immersed in sugar syrup and then sprinkled with spices. Seeds prepared according to this recipe turn out extremely tasty.

The seeds themselves taste like hazelnuts. They make a drink that tastes just as good as coffee. In places where the lotus grows, its seeds are used as a substitute for coffee beans.

Fragrant lotus flowers are used not only for making sweets, they also add a unique aroma to meat dishes. The lotus itself has a sweetish taste and is well suited for fish dishes. Lotus flowers are added to tea, which has wonderful taste qualities and many useful properties.

Lotus benefits and treatment

The benefits of lotus are explained by its rich composition. Lotus is known for its tonic properties, especially in tea blends. Asian ethnoscience uses lotus for vitamin B1 deficiency.

Lotus cleanses the intestines, tones the body, dilates blood vessels, which leads to normalization blood pressure. Scientists claim that people who eat lotus seeds stay young longer. Fresh seeds contain about 89 kilocalories per 100 grams. The calorie content of dried seeds is much higher and amounts to 332 kilocalories per 100 grams.

A decoction is prepared from lotus, which helps for chronic dysentery and nosebleeds. For the decoction you will need 15 grams of lotus root, which is boiled in 400 ml of water for 15 minutes. The resulting decoction should be taken 4 times a day, approximately 100 ml. To cure night urination and dysentery, prepare a decoction of 12 grams of lotus rhizome and 500 ml of water. This decoction should be taken up to 5 times a day, 150 ml.

Lotus is also used for burns and other skin lesions. For external use, an ointment is prepared from lotus seeds and petroleum jelly. The seeds should be fried in a frying pan until black, then mixed with Vaseline, the ointment should be applied to painful areas.

Harm of lotus and contraindications

Lotus can cause harm to the body due to chronic constipation. Cases of individual intolerance to the product are unknown, and there is also no data on how lotus affects pregnant and lactating women. It is important to remember that lotus petioles and seedlings contain the toxic substance non-lumbin.

Lotus(Nelumbo) - semi-submersible water ancient plant, which appeared in the Tertiary period, is still thriving today. U lotus large flowers and greenish-gray, waxy, shield-shaped, floating leaves that rise above the surface of the water (up to a meter in diameter).

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II

There are only two species in the lotus genus: Asian lotus nut-bearing (N . n ucifera ) and American lotus yellow(N . lutea ).

Nut-bearing lotus.

American yellow lotus.

Experts highlight, however, also Caspian lotus, And Komarov lotus.

Caspian lotus.

Lotus Komarov.

Lotus spreading rapidly in the Old and New Worlds, Australia, Indonesia, India, and China. In the Kashmir Valley, for example, farmers grow lotus at an altitude of more than 1500 m above sea level.

Lotus history

Residents of India, China, South-East Asia, South America used for thousands of years lotus, or water maize, as a food and medicinal plant. It is still used there today rhizomes and lotus seeds for obtaining flour, starch, sugar, butter.Fresh rhizomes sweet and sour in taste, boiled like potato tubers, and prepared from them as side dishes, salads, and first courses. From dried seeds They make an aromatic drink that tastes like natural coffee.

China is famous for marmalade- candied lotus rhizome slices. Genghis Khan's warriors in their trunks carried lotus seeds and stolons (rhizomes), containing about 50% starch, fats and vitamin C. People and animals were and are being treated sacred lotus, using all parts of the plant - rhizome, leaves, peduncles, petals, fruits. In Chinese medicine Lotus is used as a tonic, hemostatic and cardiac remedy.

Nut lotus(Indian) with pink-scarlet flowers, lotus yellow(American) and more lotus hybrid(more than 50 varieties) are grown as ornamental plants worldwide. The flowers appear in the summer; they are huge on the lotus, up to 30 cm in diameter, with numerous stamens. The lotus petals open with the first rays of the sun, follow it all day and close at dusk. They say that if the moon is bright, then the flowers that are responsive to light open again. Illuminated by the night light, they amaze with their unearthly beauty. “And the smell from it, the further, the better,” said the Chinese poet Zhou Dunyi a thousand years ago. The aroma of the lotus, according to botanists, is not strong, but pleasant. The yellow lotus has a brighter color, like anise or cinnamon. When the seeds are ripe, and there are 10-30 of them, the box bends and they fall into the water to continue the race. Since each plant has buds, flowers and seeds at the same time, for peoples who know the nature of the lotus well, it is also the personification of the past, present and future.

Egyptian lotus.

In South Asia, where lotus considered a sacred flower, its appearance is associated with the rebirth of the sun at sunrise. This is similar to the ancient Egyptians' belief that the water lily gives birth to the sun in the form of a sacred beetle - a scarab. It should be noted that the so-called Egyptian lotus(or Nile lily), known to us from school years, is actually a nymphea (Nimphaea lotos) from a genus of water lilies close to the lotus. And the lotus blue color opens, as expected, during the day, and the white-flowered - at night. Half a century ago, in Aswan on the banks of the Nile, five petals of the Nile lotus rose 72 meters high - a monument of Friendship from the grateful Egyptian people for our help in the construction of a high-rise dam.

We have always believed, not without reason, that the lotus, “the flower of open heartedness,” as the Chinese call it, is something very distant, tropical and rare. But it turns out that even a hundred years ago the population of the lower Volga fed pigs and poultry. The Kalmyk village of Tabala on the Volga, where one of the largest places of its growth was, is named after the lotus. Hundreds of pounds of water chestnuts were also harvested here, from where they were supplied to the capitals and abroad as an expensive curiosity. It is interesting that in years when the water level dropped sharply, ending up on land, the lotus, along with other amphibious plants (water lily, chilim), did not die. In connection with the emerging threat of destruction of huge thickets of lotus, the authorities were forced to declare the places where it grows as protected areas.

However, things did not go further than the collection and semblance of protection of the lotus in Russia; practically no one was involved in its cultivation or selection. Meanwhile, there are many places where it grows. These are the Volga, Kuban, Zeya, Ussuri, Amur, Lake Khanka. And there are countless places where the lotus can grow. Caspian lotus, as the authors of the “Grower’s Handbook” assured two decades ago, can be successfully cultivated in reservoirs middle zone. I think that the residents of Russia will still understand that the lotus is their second bread, and many will take up it, like Tamara Georgievna Ivanova in Ulyanovsk, who has been breeding species and hybrid lotuses both in the house and in ponds on the street for 20 years. The lotus is successfully resettled by many enthusiasts in Primorye and the Lower Volga region. It recently appeared, for example, in Lagan (Kalmykia), Srednyaya Akhtuba (Volgograd region), and will grow well in dammed terraced lowlands, in shallow reservoirs and oxbow lakes. In the Far East, lotus can withstand frosts down to 40 0 ​​C and below. It would feel great in reservoirs near large thermal power plants.

Many people would like to see the miracle of lotus blossoms. During its flowering, up to 40 buses a day depart from Vladivostok and Ussuriysk alone to its growing areas, and the same number of ships depart from Astrakhan. As we see, companies involved in ecotourism are already interested in this.

Lotus agricultural technology

Lotus- Not only beautiful flower, but also garden culture, cultivated as rice. Its seeds last a long time. It is probably because of this that in India it is dedicated to the goddess of health and prosperity - Lakshmi. During the excavation of burials in a peat bog in Northern China, nuts of the anuciferous lotus that had lain there for almost a thousand years were discovered, which sprouted and gave rise to a new plantation flowering plants. In the spring, seeds are planted, previously scarified (sawed) or doused with boiling water, and then germinated in a lump of algae, clay and silt (like a snowball), which is lowered to the bottom of the reservoir to a depth of half a meter. Buying lotus seeds today is not a problem. Perhaps next in line - euryale fearsome, water lilies, water chestnuts. The lotus crop (stolons) can be harvested in the fall for use as food, leaving some for next year's planting.

Under natural conditions, lotus reproduces vegetatively with the help of thin cord-like rhizomes, which actively branch in the summer, ensuring its rapid conquest of the entire reservoir. American scientists calculated that the length of the network of yellow lotus rhizomes, planted in a 10x400 m canal, was 340 km. And several tens of thousands of large (30 cm in diameter) flowers on high (120 cm) pedicels, what productivity! It is advisable not to wander around the lotus plantings on excursions and not to allow livestock. Bipeds and their smaller brothers can instantly destroy plantings. Trampled rhizomes rot, and it will take many years to restore the plantation.

Using lotus

You are not ready to eat the lotus, it doesn’t bloom every year (it’s offended, maybe for a year, or even a whole decade), but it produces a gigantic amount of biomass, which, when rotting, forms sapropel at the bottom of reservoirs - the most valuable organomineral fertilizer. We talk a lot now about organic farming, and here is the way out. Sapropel by content useful substances almost as good as manure. According to the candidate agricultural Sciences, Deputy Director of the Primorsky Vegetable Experimental Station N. Sahara, adding 6-7 kg per 1 m 2 ensures an environmentally friendly harvest. Cabbage and pumpkin crops, potatoes, root vegetables, and nightshades respond well to sapropel. In addition, it can serve as an excellent component of various composts. In summer you can feed with sapropel solution fruit trees(8-10 buckets per person) and in the fall (4-6 buckets each).

In general, if I haven’t convinced you to plant lotus instead of potatoes, then you are not real gardeners. I still hope that the time will come when lotus derivatives will be on the table of all summer residents, healthy and never sick.