Subject: re: Sacred Lotus

From: "Akiva Werbalowsky" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 15:29:50 PDT

O-
Thanks for your kind words. Here's the promised info. Good and good for ya. 
I'm cultivating these lotus seeds, which I acquired from the Cech family at 
Horizon Seeds. Their informative website is one of my favorites:
<http://www.chatlink.com/~herbseed/Welcome.htm>
Mention "permaculture" and "Akiva" if ordering seed, especially large 
orders. Plant medicine people. Medicine people plant. People plant medicine.

Please also join us for the Ojai Perma workshop/party gathering (3days, 
yurts or camping, 7 kindly meals, in a permaculture-epicenter of Southern 
California) October 8-10. Check the website at OjaiFoundation.org, or my 
brother for the "bro" deal <[email-masked])

peace,
A

******

Lotus, Sacred
Nelumbo nucifera

Family: Nympheaeceae           <NEW FOR 1999!>
Aquatic perennial.  Native to India and Pakistan.   This is the sacred water 
lily from which Padmasambhava was born. The flower is among the most 
beautiful on earth, floating among the pad-shaped leathery leaves, some of 
which rest on the water surface, and others rising from the water, borne on 
thick stems.   All parts of the plant are used medicinally.  The seed is 
demulcent and nutritive.  The flowers are cooling and sedative.  The root is 
also a demulcent.  The leaves are made into an astringent poultice. 
Cultivation: Easy.  File carefully the rounder end of the seed until the 
white endosperm is just exposed and drop into a gallon jar or aquarium.  The 
container should be prepared in advance, with mud and rock on the bottom to 
simulate a pond.  Germinates in 3 to 5 days. Un-filed seeds will not 
germinate, but still maintain their germinability for up to a century. Once 
the plumule and radicle emerge from the seed, provide bright light and 
warmth. Multiple stems reach up to the water surface and form tiny pads.  
Roots reach down to find purchase among the mud and
the stones.  Eventually, the plant may be transplanted to a pond.  Lotus is 
cold hardy as long as the rhizome itself, sunk in the mud at the bottom of 
the pond, does not freeze.  An alternative method of
cultivation is to file the seeds and bury them directly in the mud at the 
bottom of the pond.  Stems will arise from the seed to a height of at least 
3 feet.  We never tried one that didn’t sprout.

The germination of Lotus is so dependable  so quick and so FUN, that it can 
be turned into an incredible learning tool for home schoolers or community 
schools, from beginning earth-science classes to advanced botany.  A few 
good questions for the science class:  Why does the seed with the pierced 
seedcoat germinate, and the whole seed not?  How do you think this plant 
reproduces in nature?  What kind of oxygen requirement is necessary for the 
germination of Lotus?  Is this typical of all seeds?...  Drawing the various 
developmental stages of Lotus is a good adjunct activity, and can be a very 
worthwhile subject for art classes or to hone botanical illustrating skills.

One warning--goldfish will eat the developing plants if there is a lack of 
other (less exotic) fodder.

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