A Review on the Taxonomic, Evolutionary and Phytogeographic Studies of the Lotus Plant (Nelumbonaceae: Nelumbo)

Nelumbo Adans. （Nelumbonaceae） is an important member of the early-diverging eudicots. It contains two extant species： N. nucifera Gaertn. （the Sacred lotus）, distributed in Asia and Australia and N. lutea Willd. （the American lotus）, occurring in North America. This paper reviews the taxonomic, evolutionary and phytogeographic studies of the genus Nelumbo, and also raises scientific questions about it in further paleobotanic research. There are about 30 fossil species of Nelumbo established since the Early Cretaceous. Based on fossil studies, the ancestors of the extant N. nucifera and N. lutea are respectively considered to be N. protospeciosa from the Eocene to Miocene of Eurasia, and N. protolutea from the Eocene of North American. However, molecular systematic studies indicate that N. nucifera and N. lutea are probably split from a common ancestor during the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene, or even the Pleistocene, rather than separate relicts from extinct species on different continents. The characters of lotus stomatal development, seedling morphology as well as its flowering, pollination and fertilization in air reveal that it evolves from the land plants. Fossil data of Nelumbo indicates that the genus first occurs in mid-latitude area of Laurasia in the Early Cretaceous, then becomes widespread in North America and Eurasia and expands into Africa and South America during the Late Cretaceous; the genus probably colonizes the Indian Subcontinent from Asia during the Early Eocene after the collision of India and the Asian plates; the genus becomes extinct in Europe, but survives in Asia and North America during the Quaternary Ice Age, and later forms the present East Asia and North Australia-North America disjunctive distribution.     

Using in situ hyperspectral reflectance data to distinguish nine aquatic plant species

In situ hyperspectral reflectance data were studied at 50 bands (10 nm bandwidth) over the 400–900 nm spectral range to determine their potential for distinguishing among nine aquatic plant species: American lotus [Nelumbo lutea (Willd.) Pers.], American pondweed (Potamogeton nodusus Poir.), giant duckweed [Spirodela polyrrhiza (L.) Schleid.], Mexican waterlily (Nymphaea mexicana Zucc.), white waterlily (Nymphaea odorata Aiton), spatterdock [Nuphar lutea (L.) Sm.], giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta Mitchell), waterhyacinth [Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms] and waterlettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.). The species were studied on three dates: 30 May, 1 July and 3 August 2009. All nine species were studied in July and August, while only eight species were studied in May; giant duckweed was not studied in May due to insufficient availability. Two procedures were used to determine the optimum bands for discriminating among species: multiple comparison range tests and stepwise discriminant analysis. Multiple comparison range tests results for May showed that most separations among species occurred at bands 795–865 nm in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral region where up to six species could be distinguished. For July, few species could be distinguished amongthe 50 bands; most separations occurred at the 715 nm red-NIR edge band where four species could be differentiated. The optimum bands in August occurred in the green (525–595 nm), red (605–635 nm) and red-NIR edge (695–705 nm) spectral regions where up to six species could be distinguished. Stepwise discriminant analysis identified 11 bands in the blue, green, red-NIR edge and NIR spectral regions to be significant to discriminate among the eight species in May. For July and August, stepwise discriminant analysis identified 15bands and 13 bands, respectively, from the blue to NIR regions to be significant for discriminating among the nine species.