Nymphaea lotus Coptic flag. Claire Waight Keller included the flower to represent Malawi in Meghan Markle's wedding veil, which included the distinctive flora of each Commonwealth country. In some parts of Africa the rhizomes and tubers are eaten for the starch they contain either boiled, roasted or ground to a flour after drying. The young fruits are sometimes consumed as a salad. The seeds are turned into a meal. The tubers or the seeds are used as a famine food in India. The ancient Egyptians cultivated the white lotus in ponds and marshes. This flower often appears in ancient Egyptian decorations. They
Lotus alpinus Lotus alpinus Lotus alpinus, common name alpine bird's-foot trefoil, is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae. "L. alpinus" can reach a height of . It is a perennial herbaceous plant, typically sprawling horizontally at the height of the surrounding grassland or rocky surfaces. The base of its stem is woody. Flowers are pea flower-shaped and may be yellow, orange, or reddish. They bloom from May to August "L. alpinus" is a species of the mountain regions of the southern Europe (Austria, Germany, Switzerland, former Yugoslavia, Italy, France, and Spain), particularly the Alps and the Pyrenees. Alpine bird's-foot trefoil