## 3 _Nelumbo nucifera_  
### Nelumbo nucifera: General Information  
The lotus is a water plant that is widespread in Asia, America and Australia fresh waterbodies. Lotus (_Nelumbo nucifera Gearth_.) is one of two species of the genus Nelumbo in the family _Nelumboaceae_[7]. _N. nucifera Gearth_. is cultivated in many countries, including China, India, Russia and Australia. The other species, _N. lutea [PERSON]_. is found mainly in the eastern and southern parts of North America [10]. There is diversity in the plant physiology and characteristics of the different lotus species. This diversity has been enhanced by hybridization and mutation [11] among other plants of the same category, holding the largest area under cultivation and the largest production as well. According to certain morphological differences, Chinese lotus is usually divided into three types: rhizomatous lotus, lotus seed and lotus flower [12]. The main characteristics of the rhizomatous lotus are the greater height of the plant, the presence of few or no flowers and the edible rhizome with the highest yield. The lotus seed has the largest number of carpids and seeds, with the nutritional properties of the seed being generally considered better than those of the rhizomatous lotus. The latter type of flowering lotus has the lowest plant height of most flowering types and is only used as an ornamental plant [13]. The seeds and lotus rhizome are commonly used as food, while leaves and flowers are mainly used in herbal products. In traditional Chinese or Indian medicine, these four edible parts are believed to own medicinal functions [14]. The rhizomatous lotus has the largest area under cultivation, followed by the seed lotus. The Chinese lotus is widespread throughout the country, from southern Hainan province to northern Heilongjiang province and from eastern Taiwan to western Tian Mountain in Xinjiang province. The largest area of lotus cultivation is around the Yangtze River [15]. _N. nucifera_ grows as an emergent aquatic plant in water up to 2 m deep on the edges of stagnant water or lakes and slow-flowing rivers [16]. As an aquatic plant, it needs plenty of space and full sun to thrive. It has sturdy, climbing, yellow rhizomes and green fruits. The leaves are large, both aerial and floating, circular, 20 to 90 cm in diameter, sharply pointed with a short margin, stalked, entire, glaucous, non-wetting, strongly cup-shaped in aerial leaves and flat in floating leaves [17]. The leaves are pinnate on stout stems that emerge from a horizontal rhizome at a height of 1 m or more. The apical meristem consists of two protective sheaths enclosing a single flower, a single leaf and a younger flower/leaf node complex. Internal leaf elongation occurs between the primordial leaf of one cluster and the leaflets of the next, younger cluster. The perianth consists of two sepals and 18 to 28 petals. The corolla is pale yellow in _N. nucifera_ lutea and pink or white in _N. nucifera_. The fruits are not fleshy [18]. The fruit is a set of dried nuts. Mature nuts are oval, rounded or elongated, up to 1.0 cm long, 1.5 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, with a hard, smooth, brown or grey-black pericarp, slightly longitudinally striated, with a stalk and a seed. The seeds fill the rip fruit [17]. Extreme seed longevity has been observed, with seeds germinating after 1000 years or more [19]. Several bioactives have been detected in _N. nucifera_ (Table 1), with a plethora of health benefits being reported for these bioactives and Nelumbo's extracts for their potential pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical applications (Table 2), as well as in functional feeds and nutraceutical products (Table 3), with several antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic health-promoting effects against several manifestations of thrombo-inflammation and oxidative stress and their associated chronic disorders, either in vitro and/or ex vitro and/or in vivo.