Blue lotus

Every morning, the blue lotus emerges from its calm waters, offering up the enchanting spectacle of its blue-petalled, gold-centred flowers, before disappearing back into the water every night. For the Ancient Egyptians, the aquatic “rebirth” cycle of this spectacular flower – which they regarded as a representation of the sun in the sky – gave the blue lotus a divine dimension. While considered a sacred plant, its flowers were also used to make wine and tea and its leaves, roots and seeds were eaten as a vegetable. In traditional medicine, blue lotus was used to calm a troubled mind.