Lotus Seed

OVERVIEW

What This Record Covers

Lotus Seed, called Lian Zi, is the dried seed of Nelumbo nucifera, the sacred lotus, an aquatic perennial of the lotus family (Nelumbonaceae) cultivated in ponds and rice fields across Asia. The medicinal material is the round or oval seed with a hard cream-colored shell, from which the green embryo, called the plumule, may or may not be removed. In trade it appears as whole seeds, shelled seeds, plumule-free seeds, powder, and combined formulas, and the seed, the plumule, and the lotus root are different parts. The seed is also an ordinary food, and the food and concentrated forms should be recorded separately.

English name

Lotus Seed

Latin name

Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.

Traditional category

Astringent

Nature

Neutral

Flavor description

Sweet, Astringent

Record identifier

lianzi

IDENTIFICATION

Identification and Image Notes

Lotus seeds are round or oval with a hard cream-colored shell and a green embryo that may be removed, and seed, plumule, and lotus root are different parts. The dried seed is pale cream, about a centimeter across, with a small depression where the embryo sat, and the removed plumule is sold separately as a small green bitter piece. The hard round seed is distinctive, but the species and the presence of the embryo should be confirmed with the label, and sweetened snack forms are separate records.

Images are for orientation only, not definitive species authentication; confirm species, part, source, and labeling with a qualified professional or authoritative monograph.

TRADITIONAL CONTEXT

Traditional Use in Context

Traditional records discuss Lotus Seed for spleen support, securing, calmness, and kidney-related traditional language, and it appears in formulas aimed at digestive weakness, loose stools, and restless sleep, often paired with Gordon Euryale Seed and Chinese Yam, always within a pattern-based framework, and the embryo-free seed is the form used in most decoctions. Classical texts describe it for supporting the spleen and securing leakage, and it is one of the few materials with both food and materia medica uses, appearing in desserts as well as decoctions. The calming and securing vocabulary is historical, and persistent digestive or sleep symptoms require clinical assessment.

PROCESSING CONTEXT

Raw Material, Processing, and Product Form

Seeds are shelled, de-embryonated or left whole, dried, and sometimes stir-fried, and food products and concentrated powders need separate ingredient and storage records. Each form carries its own record.

The same name can cover a raw material, decoction piece, powder, extract, or finished product, so record the labeled form rather than assuming it; see the safety review for the questions to ask.

COMPARISON

How This Entry Differs

Compare Lotus Seed with Gordon Euryale Seed for the two aquatic seeds, and with Cornus Fruit for the securing end of the vocabulary. Lotus Seed is the more food-like and calming member of the group. Both the whole seed and the embryo-removed form appear in trade, and the two are recorded separately in some references.

Use the related-entry links below to compare identity, part, processing, and safety boundaries — similar categories do not make materials interchangeable.

STUDY METHOD

New to these entries?

Read the four-step method in How to Read a Herb Entry before comparing materials.