Nelumbo nucifera, also known as
Indian lotus,
sacred lotus,
bean of India, or simply
lotus, is one of two species of aquatic plant in the
family Nelumbonaceae. The Linnaean binomial
Nelumbo nucifera (
Gaertn.) is the currently recognized name for this species, which has been classified under the
former names,
Nelumbium speciosum (
Willd.) and
Nymphaea nelumbo, among others. (These names are obsolete synonyms and should be avoided in current works.) This plant is an aquatic perennial. Under favorable circumstances its seeds may remain viable for many years, with the oldest recorded lotus germination being from that of seeds 1,300 years old recovered from a dry lakebed in northeastern
China.