Lotus is a perennial aquatic herb; its rhizome is horizontal, thick, with enlarged internodes, internally having numerous longitudinal air passages. The nodes are constricted, bearing black scale leaves above and whiskery adventitious roots below.
Leaves are round, shield-shaped, with a diameter of 25-90 cm, deep green on the surface covered with a waxy white powder, gray-green on the underside, entire margin slightly undulate, smooth above with white powder, veins on the underside radiate from the center with 1-2 forked branches; petiole robust, cylindrical, 1-2 meters long, hollow, with small spines scattered on the outside. Flower stalks are as long as or slightly longer than the petioles, also with scattered small spines; petiole cylindrical, densely covered with backward-pointing spines.
Single flowers bloom at the top of the stem, above the water surface, with a diameter of 10-20 cm, they are beautiful and fragrant; they come in single, double, semi-double, and fully double petals, as well as multiple layers; the colors range from white, pink, deep red, light purple, yellow, to bicolor variations; the lotus leaves are obovate-elliptical to inversely ovate, measuring 5-10 cm in length and 3-5 cm in width, gradually decreasing in size from the outside to the inside, sometimes turning into stamens, with rounded or slightly pointed tips, and many stamens; the pistil is separate and buried within a conical, spongy receptacle, with a surface of many scattered honeycomb-like holes; after fertilization, it gradually swells into a spikelet called a莲蓬, with each hole containing a small nut (lotus seed); the anther is linear, the filaments are long and slender, attached below the receptacle; the style is extremely short, with the stigma at the top; the receptacle (lotus ovary) has a diameter of 5-10 cm.