The lotus is an aquatic perennial herb whose parts are smooth but covered with a whitish to greyish powdery coating and attaining only a meter or two in height. It usually grows in muddy soil and when it is cut, it exudes a milky sap. The rhizomes are creeping and jointed up to 10 m long. The interjoints are oblongish or ellipsoidal in shape, up to 30 cm long and 10 cm in diameter. The leaves are attached to its middle surface to the stalks that arise singly from in-between the joints of the rhizomes. The leafstalks are cylindrical in cross-section, covered outside with short fleshy prickles, the inside with numerous air canals. The leaf blades are shallowly cup-shaped or depressed above, up to almost a meter in diameter. The inflorescence is a solitary flower which arises from the interjoint from where the leafstalk is also attached, projecting above the water higher or the same level with the leaves, either erect or nodding and about up to fourth of a meter in diameter. The seeds are divided halfway into two. Pieces of rhizomes are usually used as planting material and planted with the buds just above the mud under about 1 m of water.

Diuretic and depresses the central nervous system (rhizome).

Nelumbo nucifera
Plants for a Future
PIER

Nuciferine; iso-quercitrin and leucoanidin (leaf); kaempferol and luteolin (flower); quercetin (leaf and flower).

A decoction of the flowers is used in the treatment of premature ejaculation. A decoction of the floral receptacle is used in the treatment of abdominal cramps, bloody discharges etc. The flower stalk is haemostatic. It is used in treating bleeding gastric ulcers, excessive menstruation, post-partum haemorrhage. The stamens are used in treating urinary frequency, premature ejaculation, haemolysis, epistaxis and uterine bleeding. A decoction of the fruit is used in the treatment of agitation, fever, heart complaints etc. The seed is sedative. It is used in the treatment of poor digestion, enteritis, chronic diarrhoea, insomnia, palpitations etc. The plumule and radicle are used to treat thirst in high febrile disease, hypertension, insomnia and restlessness. The root is tonic. The root starch is used in the treatment of diarrhoea, dysentery and a paste is applied to ringworm and other skin ailments. It is also taken internally in the treatment of haemorrhages, excessive menstruation and nosebleeds. The root nodes are used in the treatment of nasal bleeding, haemoptysis, haematuria and functional bleeding of the uterus. The plant is a folk folk remedy for cancer, modern research has isolated certain compounds from the plant that show anticancer activity. Embryos are used for reducing fever, for treating cholera, haemoptysis, spematorrhoea and syphilis.

Chandel et al., Biodiversity in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in India.