Lotus

Nelumbo nucifera of Asia and N. lutea of N. America, extraordinary plants of the family Nelumbaraceae which offer edible leaves, ‘roots’, seeds, and flowers.

Neither of them was the lotus of the fabled lotus-eaters of Libya; see jujube. However, N. nucifera was certainly known in classical antiquity; there is an unmistakable illustration of it in a mosaic in the ‘House of the Faun’ at Pompeii.