Nelumbo Nucifera (Pink Lotus) 5 Seeds

Nelumbo nucifera: 5 seeds of the pink lotus

The lotus is a perennial water plant that grows naturally from India through East Asia to Australia. Its rhizomes sit in the mud on the bottom while leaf stalks and flower stalks push straight up through the water, holding the leaves and blooms above the surface. Those round leaves can reach a considerable size and shed water completely: rain gathers into loose beads on top and rolls away as soon as the leaf tilts. The flowers are pink to pale pink, open in the morning and close again later in the day.

Across India and much of Asia, Nelumbo nucifera is one of the best known plants in religious imagery, and the species is the national flower of India. Its seeds are remarkable too. They sit inside a woody coat that keeps them viable for an extraordinarily long time, and seeds recovered from old finds have been germinated after more than a thousand years. That same hard coat is exactly why lotus seeds will not sprout on their own, so the plant needs a hand from you.

How to germinate lotus seeds

1. Carefully file or sand the rounded end of the seed until the white inner layer shows, going no deeper than you need to.
2. Put the seeds in a glass of clean water at roughly 25 to 29 degrees and keep it warm and bright.
3. Change the water daily; the seed usually swells within a few days and a green shoot appears.
4. Pot up the seedling once the first leaf unfurls, in a pot of heavy clay or garden soil with a few centimetres of water above it.
5. Keep the plant warm and in full sun, increasing the water depth as it grows.

Lotus plants raised from seed usually flower in their second season. These seeds are meant for cultivation and study, not for consumption; store them dry and out of reach of children.

More exotic seeds at Avalon

The same category holds Nicotiana tabacum, Hyoscyamus niger (henbane), Lactuca virosa (wild lettuce), Leonotis nepetifolia and Leonurus cardiaca. Every order leaves our warehouse discreetly packed.