The blooms from the lilly pads at Mystic Port are like no others I've ever seen.
Does anyone out there in Sowal Land know anything about them?
They are so beautiful.
Great photos Katz!
One difference of the lotus and water lily is that the leaves of the water lily sits on the water and the leaves of the lotus rise above the water....up to 4 feet.
Both cannot survive in moving water they must be in still water to live. The lotus must live in warm water.
The ones by Hurricane Oyster Bar are possibly
Victoria amazonica...from the Amazon Valley and named in honour of Queen Victoria. It is well known for it's showiness. when they are fully open in the late afternoon they give off an aroma of pineapples to attrack beetles so they may fly off to pollinate. Lotus are not self pollinators.
Actually the difference is a botanical one. The lotus belongs to the Nelumbo genus and the water lily belongs to the Nympha genus, dirived from the same meaning as nymph. So it's a gender thing....the Lotus "rising high" and the water lily (nymph) from Greek describe it as the feminine spirits of the water and trees or the young and budding.
But there is
some opinion about
if they are the same or different. I think I go with the botanical one. In China the Lotus is the flower of the month for July.
I love this reading from the Buddhist sutra referring to the different colors of the lotus:
"The lotuses of heaven can change according to people's wishes,
flowering when needed. In this way they bring joy to the hearts of all. There
is no need to declare one false and the other real. Both are called the wondrous lotus flower."
So I guess the lotus is a lot like a person....neither false nor real.....just wonderous!
I love taking pictures of them. I will have to go back in the evening when they are in their full bloom at HOB.
