Saturday, June 12, 2010

the National flower of Sri Lanka


Nymphaea nouchali is the National flower of Sri Lanka where it is known as Nil Mānel. Since "Nil" means ‘blue’ in Sinhala, the Sinhalese name of this plant is often rendered as "blue lotus" in English.

In Sri Lanka this plant usually grows in buffalo ponds and natural wetlands. Its beautiful aquatic flower has been mentioned in Sanskrit, Pali and Sinhala literary works since ancient times under the names "Kuvalaya", "Indhīwara", "Niluppala", "Nilothpala" and "Nilupul" as a symbol of virtue, discipline and purity. Buddhist lore in Sri Lanka claims that this flower was one of the 108 auspicious signs found on Prince Siddhartha's footprint.It is said that when Buddha died, lotus flowers blossomed everywhere he had walked in his lifetime.

The star lotus might have been one of the plants eaten by the Lotophagi of Homer's Odyssey.

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