Nelumbo is a genus of aquatic plants with large, showy flowers. Members are commonly called lotus, though lotus is a name also applied various other plants and plant groups, including the unrelated genus Lotus. Members resemble those in the family Nymphaeaceae (water lilies), but Nelumbo is not closely related to Nymphaeaceae. Nelumbo is derived from the Sinhalese word Nelum. There are only two known living species in the genus. The sacred lotus (N. nucifera) is native to Asia, and is the better known of the two. It is commonly cultivated, and also used in Chinese medicine and cooking. This species is the national flower of India and Vietnam. The American lotus (N. lutea) is native to North America and the Caribbean. Horticultural hybrids have been produced between these two geographically separated species. A third, extinct species, N. aureavallis, is known from Eocene fossils from North Dakota, United States.
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