Lotus Seeds – Shades of Dinosaurs

Every few years the news media picks up a glowing account of ancient seeds being found and still in growing condition. Most of these are greatly exaggerated, if not entirely in error. Here is one that not only tops them all… but you can believe it! This account comes to us from over 60 years ago.

Seeds of the East Indian Lotus were unearthed in deposits of the Upper Pleistocene Age in southern Manchuria by Japanese and American paleontologists. That makes them anywhere from several tens of thousands up to 50,000 years old a few of these were sent to Horace V. Wester of the National Parks Service in Washington, D.C.

On March 5 Edward J. Kelly, superintendent of parks, announced the successful germination of two of the seeds. The “leaf-by-leaf” account is this: on February 26 the seed coats were filed until the light-colored endosperm showed, to make them pervious to water. They were then steeped in water at a temperature of approximately 80 degrees. After 15 minutes the inner seedcoats burst rapidly outward. The seeds were then placed on moist cotton in a covered dish and held at room temperature. On the fifth day the first seed sprouted, with the other one following two days later.

Then the seeds were planted in pots of sterilized soil and placed in a tank kept at 78 degrees. At the last report, April 16, the plants had six and seven leaves, respectively, and were still going strong.

This is the lotus, Nelumbium neiumbo, so famous in legends of the East and is regarded as sacred by many. The important part, however, is that the seeds survived their ages long rest and grew when water finally penetrated their thick seed coats. They will also offer scientists the unparalleled opportunity to see what changes, if any, these plants have undergone since those early prehistoric days long before man roamed the earth.

The Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens where these lotus are growing are one of the most distinctive features of the National Park Service system and are probably not duplicated any-where in the world. At its peak season in June, July and August some 3000 blooms representing 80 species and varieties of tropical, European, Asiatic and American aquatic plants may be seen in the many garden pools which compose the area. Many of the varieties were developed in the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and are used throughout the park system for the beautification of its numerous fountains and lily ponds.

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