Rainflower. Nelumbo lutea, Water Chinquapin or Yellow Lotus, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The first accounts by European travelers in North America in the seventeenth century call this Lotus by a Native American name: Chechinquamin. It orginates from the Missouri-Mississippi rivers but since then also grows on the eastern seaboard, e.g. in Maine. The entire plant including its tubers and stems is edible. It was one of the nutrient foodstuffs of many Native American peoples. It's seeds, too, were a delicacy; hence the name: Pond Nut.

It's a pretty flower even in the rain and mist of the Hortus this afternoon.

Done