Lotus is a perennial aquatic herb; its rhizome is horizontal, thick, with enlarged internodes, internally having numerous longitudinal air passages, the nodes constricted, bearing black scale leaves above, and须状 adventitious roots below.

Leaf shape is roundish, shield-like, with a diameter of 25-90 cm. The surface is deep green, covered with waxy white powder. The back is gray-green. The margin is entire and slightly undulate. The upper surface is smooth with white powder, while the lower surface has central veins radiating outwards with 1-2 forked branches. The petiole is robust, cylindrical, 1-2 meters long, hollow, and covered with small spines on the outside. The peduncle is as long as or slightly longer than the petiole, also with scattered small spines. The petiole is cylindrical with dense downward-pointing spines.

Single flowers bloom at the top of the stem, above the water surface, with a diameter of 10-20 cm, 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 leaf is oblong-elliptical to inversely ovate, 5-10 cm long, 3-5 cm wide, gradually decreasing in size from outside to inside, sometimes transforming into stamens, with rounded or slightly pointed tips, and numerous stamens; the pistil is separate, embedded in the inverted conical, spongy receptacle, with a surface covered in numerous scattered honeycomb-like holes; after fertilization, it gradually swells into the lotus pod, with each hole containing a small nut (lotus seed); anther is 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 ovary) is 5-10 cm in diameter.