American Lotus

(Nelumbo lutea)

 

Color Photograph: NRCS Plants Database, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea)

Identification: Flowers yellow, large (4 to 8 inches in width), with a large number of yellow to light yellow petals. Developed seeds held in a large, circular pillbox-shaped structure at the center of the flower. Flower stalk long. Leaves round, bowl-shaped, usually with a slit near the connection to the submerged stems. Leaves large (1 to 2 feet in width), elevated about 1 foot above the water level.

Distribution: Throughout most of eastern North America.

Habitat: American Lotus is found in ponds and along the banks of slow moving streams and rivers.

Flowering period: July to September.

American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea)

Similar Species:

The yellow flowers and their round, billbox receptacles easily identify this species.

Similar Species

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