Flower Silhouette II

The lotuses (Nelumbo), also called lotus or lotus, are the only genus in the lotus family (Nelumbonaceae). Both species are used as ornamental plants and provide food. The two lotus species are perennial, herbaceous aquatic plants with rhizomes. Different leaves are formed (heterophylly). The leaves are shield-shaped (peltate). Stipules are present. The large flowers are hermaphroditic, with many free carpels. Pollination takes place by beetles. The special thing about the lotus leaves is that they are liquid-repellent, so that water, for example, simply rolls off. This means that the leaves always remain clean and no fungi or other organisms can spread on them that could harm the plant (lotus effect).

In everyday language, a flower refers either to a flowering plant that "produces" larger, eye-catching blossoms, or to a "single blossom of a flower with a stem", or is used as a short form for flowering vine. It is often used as an ornament, e.g. as a cut flower in a bouquet, a floral wreath or a floral arrangement. In the visual arts, flowers as a floral motif are a frequently depicted theme. In botany, on the other hand, the term flower is clearly defined and is separated in particular from the term blossom. While a flower (as a single flower or inflorescence) is defined by its function in pollination, a blossom (as a stunted shoot with metamorphosed leaves) is a term clearly defined by morphology.

A flower is the pollination-biological unit of flowering plants. It is its task to attract pollinators or it forms a technical-functional unit. Flower is therefore an ecologically-functionally defined term. Thus, flowers pollinated by animals are classified according to their pollinators, such as the bird flowers or the beetle flowers. A flower is defined as a shoot of limited growth in the service of sexual reproduction. Its structure is clearly divided into perianth, stamens and carpels. Tulip or rose flowers are good examples of this. They do not have to be conspicuously built or coloured; grasses also have flowers.