9 Differences between Lotus and Water Lily

For many people, lotus is water lily and water lily is lotus. Well, it turns out to be wrong. Lotus is a different plant group from water lily. People mistake those two plants as the same species because both are aquatic plant. This confusion goes further because the flowers and the leaves they produce have similar appearance.  

So let’s go… check out these differences between those two similar plants that I’ve found.

9 Differences between Lotus and Water Lily

Well, the Science Says so...

Well, according to science the two plants are indeed different. They are even classified in different order, let alone family. 

Lotus

1. Kingdom: Plantae
2. Order: Proteales
3. Family: Nelumbonaceae
4. Genus: Nelumbo
5. Spesies: Nelumbo sp.

Water Lily 

1. Kingdom: Plantae
2. Order: Nymphaeales
3. Family: Nymphaeaceae

And by this classification, we can also say that Nelumbo (lotus) is a more specific group than Nymphaeaceae (water lily). 

The Flower

Looking at those classifications is easy. But what if we are presented by the real plants and asked to differentiate between the two? 

One of the most easy way to tell the differences between the two can be done by looking at their flowers. The flowers size is different. I will say that generally, lotus has bigger flower than water lily. The lotus petals’ too, seems wider than those in water lily. But there are some exception here and there, of course.

Oh, and don't forget about the flowers' structure too. They are significanly different.

Flowers and Leaves Position

You can find the differences lotus and water lily by looking at the position of both flowers and leaves the plants produced. Here’s the fact… Nelumbo has stronger stem to support its flower and leaves erecting above the water. It doesn’t mean that they are always looked erected above the water. When the water is rising, obviously the story is difference. 

Water lily on the other hand doesn’t have stronger stem. Their stem tends to be more flexible and floating in water. Only the surface of their leaves and their flower are kept above the water. 

But it can cause some misconception.. Here, the problem is… people often think than whenever they see an aquatic flower that has only its leaves and flowers seen above the water (without the stem), they will automatically think it is water lily. While in some case, lotus can be seen like that too. 

Telling the Differences between Lotus and Water Lily by Its Color

Naturally, there are only two species of lotus with only two different color. The Asian water lily has pinkish color while the American’s one has yellow color. Water lily, on the other hand, has more variety of colors (blue, white, pink, etc). But today, many botanists have modified both plants by combining each other or applying selective breeding that resulted in many color of both flowers’ plant.

Name

1. Water lilly: Nymphaeaceae, Lili air (Indonesia, malay)
2. Lotus: Nelumbo, seroja (Indonesia, malay)

The Seed Pot and the Blooming

Water lily has faster blooming period than lotus. Naturally, the flower can stays up for only days (the hybrid is different story). If the plant produces seed, the seed pod will eventually floats in water. While in lotus, the seed pod generally will stay erect above the water. 

Leaves Shape and Size

The differences between lotus and water lily can also be seen by the leaves’ shape. Water lily shape has this V-shape with the stem as the central. Some water lily has some kind of “wall” surrounding its leaves. While lotus leaves has rounder shape than water lily. Nelumbo stem are also placed in the middle of the leave.

I will say that generally lotus has bigger leaves than water lily. But some species of water lily (for example V. cruziana) has far bigger leaves than Nelumbo leaves. So, there are some exception, but still generally, Nelumbo leaves are bigger.

Variances

Nelumbo is a group of plant in genus taxa, while Nymphaeaceae is agrup of plant in family taxa. Both have many different plants in the group, but Nelumbo has fewer member (since it was only a genus).

1. Nelumbo: N. nucifera (found in Asia) and N. lutea (found in America)
2. Nymphaeaceae: Nymphaea nouchali (Bangladesh’s national flower), Victoria cruziana (known for its super big leaves), N caerulia (the blue water lily from egypt), and many more.

Origin

The differences between lotus and water lily can also be seen by their origin.

1. Lotus came from Asia and Amerika
2. Water lily was found in many parts of the world from Asia, Africa, America, etc. Water lily was also found in many different climate area from tropical to subtropical.  

Nelumbo lutea

P. S: English is actually my third language. My first language is Javanese, and my second language is Indonesian. So I’m really sorry if my English is not good here. In fact, I created this blog in English so that I can practices my English skill in writing.