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In this article we will discuss about the structure of Nelumbo nucifera with the help of diagram.
Habit:
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A perennial aquatic herb.
Root:
Adventitious slender and perennial.
Stem:
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Rhizomatous, branched and rooted in mud.
Leaves:
Simple, forming a “triad” i.e. one scaly leaf on the lower side of rhizome, another on upper side bearing in its axil the flower and third is the foliage leaf bearing a branch and emerging aerially above the water surface; petiole long, petiole beset with small sharp prickles, stipulate, stipule ochreate; foliage leaf peltate, round, upper surface, smooth and waxy, multicostate divergent reticulate venation.
Infloresence:
Axillary, solitary terminal.
Flower:
Ebracteate, long pedicellate, pedical externally beset with small prickles, complete, hermaphrodite, actinomorphic, spirocyclic, hypogynous, large showy with sweet fragrance.
Calyx:
Sepals 4, polysepalous, first and second antero-posterior and other two are lateral. Often considered as perianth; small, triangular waxy, greenish pink, imbricate.
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Corolla:
Petals numerous, polypetalous, ovate, waxy, pink, spirally arranged.
Androecium:
Stamens indefinite, spirally arranged, filament long, slender, anther long, basifixed, erect, introrse, connective protudes beyond the anther as an appendage.
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Gynoecium:
Polycarpellary, apocarpous, superior, carpels embedded at the top of a flattened spongy receptacle, each carpel unilocular, one ovuled, ovule pendulous, style very short stigma flat.
Floral formula:
