Lotus is a perennial aquatic herb; its rhizome is horizontal, thick, with enlarged internodes, internally having numerous longitudinal通气holes, the nodes constricted, with black scale leaves above and beard-like adventitious roots below.

Leaves are round or shield-shaped, with a diameter of 25-90 cm, deep green in color, covered with a waxy white powder. The back is gray-green, margin slightly undulate, upper surface smooth with white powder, lower veins radiating from the center with 1-2 forked branches; petiole robust, cylindrical, 1-2 meters long, hollow, with small spines on the outside. Flower stalks are as long or slightly longer than the petioles, also with scattered small spines; petioles cylindrical, densely covered with backward-pointing spines.

The flowers bloom singly 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 petal shapes; colors range from white, pink, deep red, light purple, yellow, to bicolor variations; the lotus leaves are ovoid 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, and sometimes transform into stamens, with rounded or slightly pointed tips, and many stamens; the pistil is separate and embedded within a conical, spongy receptacle, the surface of which has many scattered honeycomb-like holes; after fertilization, the receptacle gradually swells into a spike, with each hole containing a small nut (lotus seed); anther filaments are linear, the filaments are slender and long, attached below the receptacle; the style is extremely short, with the stigma at the top; the receptacle (lotus pod) has a diameter of 5-10 cm.