The national flower of India is, of course, the lotus flower. This iconic flower has been important to culture on the Indian subcontinent since long before records began, and remains so to this day. It is without doubt one of India’s most important symbols, a sacred flower occupying a central place in Indian art and culture.
It can often be hard to guess what the national flower of a given country might be, but with India, the lotus is no doubt what comes to mind for most people when they think of the flowers of India.
It remains today one of the most important symbols in Indian culture and beyond.
Let’s find out more.
What is the national flower of India?
The national flower of India is the lotus flower.
Known to science as Nelumbo nucifera, the lotus is also called the Indian lotus, sacred lotus, or Laxmi lotus, and is one of the most historically, culturally, and artistically significant symbols in Indian history.
It can also be referred to as a water lily—but more on this later.
They grow in the flood plains of rivers and delta areas, dropping hundreds of thousands of seeds each year.
The seeds can remain viable for many years if the circumstances and conditions are not right for the blooming.
The flower has a wide native distribution, found in north and central India and at altitudes as high as 4,600 feet, through northern Indochina and as far north as the Amur region of Russia.
It is also found widely in East Asia.
For at least three thousand years it has been cultivated for its edible seeds as well as for its aesthetic purposes and in water gardens.
The roots of the lotus flower are planted in a pond in the bottom soil of a river, with the leaves floating on the surface.
The flowers emerge from thick stems and the leaf stalks can be as long as 6 or 7 feet, which is how the plants are able to grow in deep water.
Flower lotuses are used for ornamental purposes, naturally, and are quite different from lotuses cultivated for the seeds.
That said, the flowers are capable of producing ink which can be used in paintings.
They can grow in countless different shades and colors and, rather like orchids, have been much interbred by humans to achieve more and more varieties of the beautiful flower.
Why is the lotus the national flower of India?
Historically and culturally, it is hard to overstate the importance of the lotus flower in India as a nation today and the broader Indian subcontinent.
The flower is sacred in both Hinduism and Buddhism, both of which have at one time been the dominant religion in India.
It is meant to represent the path to enlightenment and spiritual awakening.
In Hinduism, the lotus is regarded as the first born of creation, the magic womb for the universe, and has associations with longevity, wealth and knowledge.
It represents beauty, perfection, spiritual purity and grace, and Hindu deities are very often depicted wearing or holding lotus flowers in their many arms.
The unfolding of the lotus petals suggests the expansion of the human soul, and the growth from mud to beautiful flower represents the potential of change.
Though Buddhism declined in India in the ancient past, it nonetheless played an important role in the country’s history.
Buddha himself is said to have compared himself to a lotus, rising unstained from the muddy water, rising free from this world of defilements.
Floating above the murky water, the lotus embodies purity of body and mind, as well as speech.
To India today, all of these things remain very important.
Is the lotus flower the same as the water lily?
Colloquially, the lotus flower is very often referred to as a water lily.
However, they are not the same thing taxonomically and water lily generally refers to other species.
The family to which water lilies belong, Nymphaeaceae, was once thought to contain lotuses but they are now recognized as being part of a distinct group.
So, in strict taxonomical terms, water lilies and lotus flowers are not the same thing.
However, many do continue to refer to lotuses as water lilies, so it really depends who you’re talking to!
How many colors of lotus flower are there?
There are six main colors in which you can find lotus flowers today: white, pink, yellow, red, blue and purple.
This is the result of mostly human interbreeding to get desirable and exotic colors, though of course flowers naturally produced bright colors to attract insects for pollination.
There are many shades of these colors found in other specially bred lotuses, but most of them are white or pink.
White is the most common color for the lotus flower.
With time, though, more colors may well emerge from selective breeding and we may see all sorts of exotically colored lotus flowers.
So, again, India’s national flower is the one that you likely suspected it was in the first place: the lotus.
This vital centerpiece of Indian culture and history has been at the heart of the country’s religious, spiritual, and artistic imagination since before history began.
Today it is just as important a symbol as it ever was and no doubt is one of the flowers most heavily associated with a particular part of the world if not country.