https://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=4411The plant exhibits enormous phenotypic diversity, with numerous racial variants in different shapes, sizes and common shades of pink and white flowers having 16?160 petals. A pond of mature lotus is a stunning sight. Quite unlike water lilies, whose leaves rest on the water's surface, lotus leaves rise above the water on stems from 1 to 8 feet tall. And the flowers, 4 to 10 inches in diameter, usually rise above the leaves.