View All Photos

Lotuses

Nelumbonaceae (family), “Lotus-Lily Family”

On the Web

On Wikipedia

Nelumbonaceae is a family of aquatic flowering plants. Nelumbo is the sole extant genus, containing Nelumbo lutea, native to North America, and Nelumbo nucifera, widespread in Asia. At least four other genera, Nelumbites, Exnelumbites, Paleonelumbo, and Nelumbago, are known from fossils. Nelumbonaceae were once included in the waterlily family, Nymphaeaceae. Genetic analysis determined that the similarities between the families are an example of convergent evolution. Nelumbonaceae are highly modified eudicots belonging to the order Proteales, their closest living relatives being the plane trees (Platanaceae) and Proteaceae.The APG IV system of 2016 places the family in the order Proteales, in the clade eudicots. The Cronquist system, of 1981, also recognized this family, but placed it in…