Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 60, No. 9, pp.

2461–2464, 2009
doi:10.1093/jxb/erp166

PLANT CULTURE
Symbolism of plants: examples from European-Mediterranean culture
presented with biology and history of art
Riklef Kandeler1 and Wolfram R. Ullrich2*
1
Institute of Botany, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Gregor Mendelstr. 33, 1180 Wien, Austria
2
Institute of Botany, Darmstadt University of Technology, Kirchbergweg 6, D-64287 Darmstadt, Germany

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JULY: Lotus
On hot summer days we like to see our ponds and small Symbolism: nymphaea flowers in pharaonic
eutrophic lakes covered with the white, pink or yellow flowers Egypt
of water lilies. Everybody knows how Claude Monet became
so fascinated by his ‘nymphe´as’ that he painted them in all The flowers of the blue water lily emerge out of the water in
situations, but the Nymphaeaceae have played a role in the morning and recede back into the water at noon. Thus
symbolism for over 4000 years. Even more important in Asian they became a symbol of the sun rising out of the night, as
culture, particularly in Buddhism, has been the Indian lotus, well as the continual renewal of life. The Egyptian symbol
Nelumbo nucifera (Nelumbonaceae). In literature and of eternal life, the ‘ankh’, possibly a magic knot in older
mythology, the term lotus (in Greek lotos) has been used to depictions (Lurker, 1987), was composed of three plant
cover both families, relating the high symbolic and cultural stems or petioles knotted together, very likely from lotus.
importance of the lotus in great parts of the world. The sacredness of lotus plants in pharaonic Egypt was
possibly also due to their use as drugs by priests and
shamans who used the plant as an intoxicant for trances
and to make contact with the other world.
Biology, water lilies (Nymphaeaceae)
As a state symbol, intertwined lotus and papyrus plants
All the nymphaeas live in still or slow water and have were used to symbolize the union of upper and lower Egypt.
a condensed shoot apical meristem underwater close to the However, more familiar was the use of both Nymphea
substrate. The stems, petioles, and leaves are characterized species for funeral rites. Close to Saqqara, south of Cairo,
by wide and efficient tracts of aerenchyma and the leaves, in limestone relief on a tomb (2500 BC), the flowers of both
and usually the flowers, float on the water surface due to lotus species were reproduced rather precisely (Fig. 2).
their high intercellular air content. Their ‘homobaric’, i.e. Within the tomb, lotus flowers and various food items were
widely interconnected, intercellular system enables them to placed close to the feet of the deceased, apparently to feed
send oxygen-enriched air by ‘pressurized ventilation’ from both spirit and body in the after-life. In an older limestone
the younger leaves to the subaquatic parts which live in an relief (c. 2600 BC), probably from the area of Memphis
almost anaerobic stagnant environment (Dacey, 1981; (also in lower Egypt), the deceased is shown on a boat-trip
Armstrong et al., 1996; Grosse, 1996; Colmer, 2003). In the with the water surface being almost completely covered with
Nile delta, two species predominate, Nymphaea caerulea the blue lotus.
and N. lotus. N. caerulea has entire or obtuse-dentate leaves More than 1000 years later, in the grave of Tut-ankh-
and the blue petals are pointed (Fig. 1, left), N. lotus has Amun (Valley of the Kings, Egypt 1347–1338 BC) Howard
sharply dentate leaves and the white petals are broadly Carter found wreaths of dry flowers some of which were N.
rounded at the end (Fig. 1, right). Both of them release caerulea (Newberry, 1973) on the second and the innermost
a pleasant fragrance. Nymphaeas have long had a particular coffin. The innermost coffin contained a large flower collar
significance as intoxicants for shamans because of their with rows of lotus petals, a symbol of revival and
alkaloid and glycoside content. They contain compounds reanimation (Lurker, 1987). Hence, in ancient Egypt, the
similar to atropin and papaverin (nupharin, nymphalin, lotus, most commonly N. caerulea, was used widely as
ellagic acid) (Roth et al., 1994). religious and ceremonial icon.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: ullrichcw@[Link]

ª The Author [2009]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved.
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Fig. 1. (Left) Blue Egyptian lotus, Nymphaea caerulea. (Right) White Egyptian lotus, N. lotus. Botanical Garden, University of Vienna
(Kandeler).

Fig. 3. Indian lotus, Nelumbo nucifera. Botanical Garden, Univer-

Fig. 2. Limestone relief in a grave near Saqqara, Egypt, c. 2500 sity of Bonn (Ullrich).
BC. On the left can be seen Nymphaea caerulea and N. lotus
(Lange and Hirmer, 1967).

(Fig. 4) is now imitated on superior glass and for other

‘stay-clean’ surfaces (Barthlott and Neinhuis, 1997).
Biology: Indian lotus
The white or pink flowers of Nelumbo nucifera emerge out
of the water like the peltate leaves (Figs 3, 4). The floral axis
Symbolism: Indian lotus
is in the form of a solid inverted cone on whose flat upper
side the carpels recede into holes during the ripening process In Hinduism since antiquity the Indian lotus has been
(Fig. 3). Indian lotus is widely distributed in stagnant waters a particularly sacred plant (Beuchert, 2004). It was regarded
on the Indian subcontinent and in South-East Asia. It was as the first-born of creation and as the magic womb of the
also introduced into Egypt at around the time of the Persian universe and the gods. In Buddhism, the Indian lotus also
hegemony (5th century BC) (Germer, 1985), although it no has a central significance (Beuchert, 2004). Buddha strode
longer grows there today. In recent years, Nelumbo is again over seven lotus flowers when he was born and with the
in the news, as the inspiration for a modern engineering Bodhisattvas (future Buddhas) and various saints he was
innovation. The waxes of its leaf cuticle have a very efficient often depicted as sitting on lotus flowers (Fig. 5) or on the
water- and dirt-repellent structure and this ‘lotus effect’ flat top of the gynaecium (Fig. 3) (Majupuria and Joshi,
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Fig. 4. Indian lotus plant, peltate leaves with a structured hydro-
phobic cuticle, responsible for the famous lotus effect. Botanical
Garden, University of Bonn (Ullrich).
Fig. 5. Buddha sitting on a pedestal formed from a stylized lotus
flower, in his hands the typical beggar’s bowl. Bronze sculpture, T’ang
period (Chinese), 7th to 9th century AD. (Hájek and Forman, 1954).
1988). So important has the lotus been to Indian culture
that it has been adopted as the flower of India, to represent
not only divinity and enlightenment, but also fertility due to
its fecundity and the design of its gynaecium, long life and
knowledge due to its longevity, and wealth associated with
its many culinary uses.
Once introduced into Egypt, the Indian lotus replaced the
native species in the cult of Isis in the 1st century BC. Isis
became not only the protective goddess and divine mother
but also the ruler of the underworld and queen of heaven
(Helck, 1979), the Indian lotus flower being one of her most
important attributes (Witt, 1997).
As the Christian church grew it, too, adopted the lotus
as a potent symbol. At the Christian Council of Ephesus in
431 AD, St Mary was designated as ‘Theotokos’ (the Fig. 6. Mosaic in Panagia Theotokos, Thessaloniki, central arcade
Bearer of God). The subsequent flush of church building (450–460 AD). Two dishes with leaves and flowers of Indian lotus
dedicated to St Mary incorporated the image of the lotus. and two ears of grain each. (Kandeler).
A good example is Panagia Theotokos (now Panagia
Achiropiitos) in Thessaloniki, 450–460 AD. In the central References
arcade sit two dishes from which lotus leaves, flowers,
and fruits are sprouting around the central golden cross Armstrong W, Armstrong J, Beckett PM. 1996. Pressurized
(Fig. 6). ventilation in emergent macrophytes: the mechanism and
2464 | Plant Culture

mathematical modelling of humidity-induced convection. Aquatic Hájek L, Forman W. 1954. Chinesische Kunst in tschechoslowakischen
Botany 54, 121–135. Museen. Prague: Artia.
Barthlott W, Neinhuis C. 1997. Purity of the sacred lotus, or Helck HW. 1979. Isis. In: Der kleine Pauly, Vol. 2. München:
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Plant, Cell and Environment 26, 17–36.
Newberry PE. 1973. Die Blütenkränze im Grab Tut-ench-Amuns.
Dacey JWH. 1981. Pressurized ventilation in the yellow water lily. Appendix 2. In: Carter H. Das Grab des Tut-ench-Amun. Wiesbaden:
Ecology 62, 1137–1147. FA. Brockhaus.
Germer R. 1985. Flora des pharaonischen Ägypten. Mainz: P. von Roth L, Daunderer M, Kornmann K. 1994. Giftpflanzen –

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Zabern. Pflanzengifte. Landsberg: Ecomed Verlagsgesellschaft.
Grosse W. 1996. Pressurised ventilation in floating-leaved aquatic Witt RE. 1997. Isis in the ancient world. Baltimore, London: John
macrophytes. Aquatic Botany 54, 137–150. Hopkins University Press.