Lotus, any of several different plants. The lotus of the Greeks was the species Ziziphus lotus of the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae), a bush native to southern Europe. It has large fruits containing a mealy substance that can be used for making bread and fermented drinks. In ancient times the fruits were an article of food among the poor, and a wine made from the fruit was thought to produce contentment and forgetfulness.
The Egyptian lotus is a white water lily, Nymphaea lotus (family Nymphaeaceae). The blue lotus (N. caerulea) was the dominant lotus in Egyptian art. The sacred lotus of the Hindus is an aquatic plant (Nelumbo nucifera) with white or delicate pink flowers; the lotus of eastern North America is Nelumbo pentapetala, a similar plant with yellow blossoms (see Nelumbonaceae). The lotus tree, known to the Romans as the Libyan lotus, was probably Celtis australis, the nettle tree of southern Europe, a member of the elm family (Cannabaceae) with fruits like small cherries, first red and then black at maturity.
Lotus is the Latin name for a genus of the pea family (Fabaceae), containing about 100 species distributed in temperate regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. It is represented in Great Britain, for example, by L. corniculatus, bird’s-foot trefoil, a low-growing ground cover with clusters of small bright yellow flowers that are often streaked with crimson. In North America 20 or more species of Lotus occur and are called such common names as deervetch and deerclover. They are grazed by animals.
The lotus, in the water-lily form, is a persistent ornament in architecture. A well-known example is its use in decorating the capitals of columns, a practice dating from ancient Egyptian times. The lotus is also the basis of the Assyrian sacred tree and the Phoenician stela capitals, which were the antecedent of the Ionic order of architectural design.
In addition to artistic uses, the lotus has, since ancient times, symbolized fertility and related ideas, including birth, purity, sexuality, rebirth of the dead, and, in astrology, the rising sun.