Nelumbo Notebook - 2005
News and research items archived from the news pages of 2005.
Beautiful Bowl Lotus
Well-known Australian nursery-owner Sheila Tierney of Waterlily Acres, Canungra, Queensland, has recently flowered the marvellous dwarf-growing Bowl Lotus Nelumbo ‘Chongshishua’. A Chinese cultivar, compare the size of the blossom, in its third day, with the adjacent teacup. It will be some time before it is readily available to Australian water gardeners. It should become a popular plant for the smaller pond or container water feature.
|
 The Chinese Bowl Lotus Nelumbo 'Chongshishua'.
|
 The Sacred Lotus is well-known for its great ability to stay dry and clean.
|
Lotus Leaf Research Success
The leaf of the Sacred Lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, is noted for its ability to stay dry and clean. As most water gardeners know, a drop of water falling on to a Nelumbo leaf rolls around like quicksilver. The water-resistant qualities of the Lotus leaf have long been admired and have been the subject of much research.
Recently a Turkish team of researches, led by Prof Levent Demirel of Kocaeli University in Izmit, has applied the qualities of the leaf surface to create a highly waterproof synthetic material.This can be used for anti-icing coatings on aircraft wings, for application to the hulls of ships to enable them to ply through the water more efficiently, as well as to waterproof the textiles used for making clothes.
|
A slight movement of the leaf and the water droplet rolls off under its own weight. Using this knowledge Prof Demirel has created a super-hydrophobic material very economically and efficiently by a process which produces air-filled pores in polypropylene and creates the bumps.
Similar work, utilising the knowledge of the functioning of the leaf surface of Nelumbo, has also been undertaken by Phil Brown and his team of textile chemists at Clemson University, South Carolina, in the United States. They have produced an as yet to be named waterproofing material for fabrics.
|
 Water droplets that land on a leaf of Nelumbo only touch at a few points.
|
 ‘Little Drunken Fairy’ a double-flowered Chinese Bowl Lotus from Wuhan.
|
Chinese Bowl Lotus
Yileen Gardens in Zujiang, Nanjing, China produce a large range of Lotus or Nelumbo. Apart from the traditional Sacred Lotus cultivars, which are familiar to many water gardeners, they are now marketing a range of Chinese Bowl Lotus - dwarf cultivars that according to Chinese standards do not grow taller than 33cm, nor have flowers more than 12cm in diameter. Currently these beautiful lotus are only available to bona-fide growers and retailers. Further information from www.yileen.com.cn
There is a gallery devoted to the cultivars made available by Yileen Gardens, together with details of their unofficial classification on this website. click here
|
|
America 
Australia 
Canada 
Europe 
International 
New Zealand 
South Africa 
United Kingdom 
