Lawas
Nymphaea lotus · White lotus
- Names in the book
- Lawas, Talaylo, Tunas, Gaway-gaway, Tag., Vis., Pam.; Water Lily, Eng.
- Colours
- flowerwhite, pink
- Native range
- Africa
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Common on the shores of the Laguna de Bay.
- Family
- Nymphaeaceae, filed in the book under Nymphæaceæ
- Printed as
- Nymphæa Lotus, L.
- Sources
- Page 27 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
Nymphaea lotus in the strict sense is African. The Philippine water lily that Blanco filed under this name is now usually identified as Nymphaea pubescens.
The plant today
Nymphaea lotus, the white Egyptian lotus, tiger lotus, white lotus, or Egyptian water-lily, is a flowering plant of the family Nymphaeaceae.
Excerpt from “Nymphaea lotus” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 2 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 1 province: Ilocos Norte (1).
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
The anaphrodisiac virtues attributed to this plant and to all the water-lily family are purely imaginary. Its juice being slightly bitter and astringent is used in decoction as an injection in gonorrhœa. It possesses mild narcotic properties, for which some use the juice of the whole plant, rubbing the forehead and temples with it to produce sleep.
Botanical description
An aquatic plant, with leaves solitary, terminal, floating on the water, dentate, glabrous, broad, deeply cleft at the base, with a very long petiole. Flowers solitary, persistent in the ripe fruit, oval. Stamens indefinite in fine whorls or verticils.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Differential Flavonoid and Other Phenolic Accumulations and Antioxidant Activities of Nymphaea lotus L. Populations throughout Thailand
- GC-MS analysis of aqueous extract of Nymphaea lotus and ameliorative potential of its biosynthesized gold nanoparticles against cadmium-induced kidney damage in rats
- In silico prediction of the possible antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory targets of Nymphaea lotus-derived phytochemicals and mechanistic insights by molecular dynamics simulations