Sacred Lotus

Joe Liles, standing next to the cupola on top of Watts Hall.

Sacred Lotus

1985

When I was growing up in Wadesboro, NC (60 miles east of Charlotte), there was a pond near our house that had what I thought were lilies along the edges. These aquatic plants not only had beautiful flowers, they produced seed pods that seemed magical to me. The seed pods were hollow, had small holes on their top surfaces, and were full of small seeds that rattled when you shook them. I have fond memories of playing with these rattles provided by nature when I was a kid. Many years later while in my fifth year at NCSSM, I wanted to continue the flower theme that I started with the “Narcissus” print, so I returned to my hometown and took pictures of this amazing plant. Working from the photos, I cut stencils to show 11 different colors. When I finished the printing, I took a print to the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill and asked the botanist there to help me with specific plant identification and give me the Latin name. Well, he told me that this was not a lily; it was a lotus. He told me that the seed pods tip over at maturity and drop their seeds into the water to make new plants. He told me that the root of the lotus has the appearance of a banana. He told me that this particular lotus had its origin as a plant species in Egypt and was known commonly as the Sacred Lotus. I learned that the Latin name is Nelumbo nucifera.