History and Lore

Lotus root was originally classified in the water lily family (Nymphaeaceae), but it is now recognized as its own family, Nelumbonaceae. This is an important yet nuanced botanical reclassification for a significant plant held sacred by the Buddhists as a symbol of purity. Prized for its rhizomes, blossoms, and seeds, this perennial aquatic plant is native to tropical Asia, the Middle East, and Australia and has been cultivated for more than two thousand years. By around 500 B.C., it was being grown in the Nile Valley for its exceptional beauty, though the poor found greater value in boiling, drying, and grinding the seeds and rhizomes for food. In China, evidence of its cultivation dates to the Han dynasty (207 B.C.–A.D. 220). In India, a golden lotus flower is said to have grown from the navel of the god Vishnu, and in China and Japan, Buddha is often depicted either holding or seated on a lotus blossom.