Althouse commenter, Quaestor, cleared up an issue that has long perplexed me by explaining quite clearly the differences between lotus and water lily. I had been conflating the two plants for a lifetime, and now I know that the water flower upon which Buddha sits is not the same water flower seen throughout Egyptian art.
The explanation also clears up the questions I had about the strange lotus roots with holes in them that I keep seeing at Asian markets, and of the strange lotus seed pods that never appear in Egyptian art, and why the petals are always depicted differently, in Asian art with graceful curves and in Egyptian art as sharp triangles. So now I know.
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