BOTANY WITH BASICS OF HYDROBOTANY (AQUATIC PLANTS OF UKRAINE) - B.Ye. Yakubenko - 2011

X. SEED PLANTS

Lotus Family (Nelumbonaceae)

Perennial aquatic herbs with a branching rhizome. Leaves are of three types: submersed ones are scale-like; floating ones are large, circular, flat, peltate, with their upper surface covered by a waxy coating, borne on straight petioles and positioned on the Water surface; and emersed ones are similar to the floating ones, only somewhat reflexed and held above the water surface. In addition to the waxy coating, the upper leaf surface exhibits prominent cutinized papillae formed by epidermal Cell outgrowths. The Tissues of lotus leaves contain large air cavities that prevent the plant from becoming excessively waterlogged. Stomata are found exclusively on the upper side of the lotus leaf, deeply sunken into the papillate epidermal tissue.

Flowers are solitary, emitting a faint yet exceptionally pleasant fragrance. Like the leaves, they are elevated high above the water on straight, long pedicels which, similar to the leaf petioles, are covered with awl-shaped outgrowths. Lotus flowers exhibit positive heliotropism, meaning they always turn toward the sun. Just below the point of flower attachment lies the so-called response zone, where the flower changes its orientation. There are two sepals. Petals are numerous (22–30), arranged spirally, and not entirely distinct from the sepals. The numerous stamens are spirally arranged; they are large, featuring two long anthers and a large, fleshy connective that extends beyond the anthers and is most often curved inward toward the center of the flower.

The pollen grain is tricolpate with a distinctive surface Structure. The gynoecium is embedded in an enlarged, inversely conical receptacle. The individual barrel-shaped carpels are arranged spirally or almost in whorls and bear sessile, saucer-shaped stigmas. As they ripen, the carpels develop into single-seeded nutlets with a dark, exceptionally hard, woody pericarp and a respiratory pore near the pistil. The lotus embryo is large, with massive, fleshy, colorless cotyledons and a plumule bearing the first two dark-green leaves. The reserve nutrients of the seed are stored in the cotyledons; the poorly developed endosperm is completely consumed during the Cytology/cytology/16.html">Early stages of embryonic development, leaving the mature seed entirely filled by the embryo.

Seeds retain their viability for many years. A well-known case involves lotus nutlets that had lain for at least a thousand years in burial peat bogs of Northern China; after appropriate Treatment of their seed coats, they germinated and produced flowering plants.

A monotypic family represented by a single genus with two species, which grow in warm-water bodies (not below 20 °C) in the southern regions of Asia, Australia, America, and extremely rarely in Europe (the Volga Delta). Only one species grows in Ukraine.

Sacred lotus or Komarov's lotus (Nelumbium nucifera Gaertn.). A perennial plant up to 1 m tall with a shortened stem (Fig. 106). Rhizome is plagiotropic, nodose, and elongated. Aerial leaves are large, peltate, nearly circular, up to 50 cm in diameter, borne on long, upright, prickly petioles. Floating leaves are flat, peltate, smaller (up to 30 cm in diameter) with flexible petioles; submersed leaves are sessile and scale-like.

Flowers are bisexual, solitary, 20–25 cm in diameter; the receptacle is inversely conical, with individual carpels lodged in its depressions. Petals are pink, elliptic, and stamen filaments are broadened beneath the anthers. Blooms in July–August. The fruit is an aggregate of nutlets (up to 25), each 1.5 cm long, with a dense pericarp.

Class="center">

Fig. 106. Sacred lotus

This is a rare plant that is extinct in the wild, but widely cultivated and successfully naturalized in South Asia and Australia (specifically in northeastern and southern Australia), the islands of the Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, the Indochinese and Indian peninsulas, China, as well as in the Russian Far East (Khabarovsk and Primorye Territories), Transcaucasia, and the deltas of the Volga and Kura rivers (as isolated populations) where it was introduced by humans. In Ukraine, it is also an introduced species. For research purposes, it is being introduced into the Mouth areas of the Danube and Dnieper rivers.

It is an ornamental, fodder, food, medicinal, and ritual plant. The species serves as a food source for phytonematodes, certain dipteran insects including mosquitoes, and nutrias.

It is cultivated in India, China, Korea, and Japan for its edible seeds and rhizomes, from which flour is made, and starch, sugar, and a butter substitute are extracted. Soups and side dishes are prepared from the rhizomes.

Among Chinese confectionery products, candied, sliced

pieces of lotus rhizome remain popular today, tasting much like marmalade. In addition, young lotus sprouts are used for food. Until recently, the local population in the Astrakhan region used the lotus to feed pigs and poultry. Before lotus populations were declared protected nature reserves, their yields were often entirely destroyed, threatening the survival of this plant. The Use of lotus rhizomes and seeds for food is explained by their high starch content (up to 50%), as well as sugars, fats, and Vitamin C.

The first mention of the lotus as a medicinal plant is recorded in Chinese sources dating back over 3,000 years BC. Since ancient times, traditional medicine has utilized all PARTS OF THE lotus plant to treat nervous and Cardiovascular system disorders. In Eastern medicine, all plant parts are used: the rhizome serves as a tonic, sedative, while fruits and leaves are used as antitoxic, diuretic, and hemostatic agents. In the medicine of many Western European countries, rhizomes are used for diarrhea and dysentery. It is traditionally used as a component in anti-hemorrhagic preparations, for gargling bleeding Gums, and in the treatment of Hematuria, dermatoses, and dermatomycoses. It is included in dietary supplements for weight management. Cosmetic products utilize it for Skin whitening and removing blemishes and spots.

The main BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE SUBSTANCES of the lotus include Flavonoids (quercetin, isoquercitrin, nelumboside, etc.), leucoanthocyanidins (leucocyanidin, leucodelphinidin), Alkaloids (nuciferine), organic acids, CARBOHYDRATES, Peptides, and fats. Lotus leaves contain the poisonous alkaloid nelumbin.

Since ancient times in China, India, and Ancient Egypt, the lotus was considered a sacred plant, a status reinforced by its extensive practical utility, astonishing beauty, and the positive heliotropism of its flowers. It was used in burial rituals, which is why its flowers are frequently found in ancient Egyptian tombs. Depictions of the lotus appear extremely often in the architectural monuments of Egypt and Assyria, where, alongside papyrus and water lilies, it is featured as a characteristic element of the aquatic landscape. Stylized lotus motifs frequently adorn columns. The lotus is the national flower of India.