Farmers harvest lotus loots in a pond on July 21, 2025 in Nantong, Jiangsu Province of China. Lotus root harvest season is in full swing in Nantong as farmers work to harvest and transport fresh lotus roots to meet market demand. (Photo by Zhai Huiyong/VCG via Getty Images)

A farmer harvests the lotus roots at a lotus pond in the Lingjiaohu Village of Nanxian County, Yiyang City, Central China's Hunan Province on April 26, 2023. Farmers in Lingjiaohu Village of Nanxian County have recently been busy with harvesting lotus roots. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

First place, The Beauty of Plants. “There are many stages of lotus growth on display at the Aquatic Gardens, but to come across twotwisted dancing stems of nelumbo nucifera was unexpected and quite magical”. (Photo by Kathleen Furey/The Guardian)

A woman poses for a photo next to lotus flowers in West lake in Hanoi, Vietnam, 09 June 2025.. Lotus flowers bloom from late May to August in Vietnam and are commonly found growing in the muddy waters of lakes and ponds across the country. (Photo by Luong Thai Linh/EPA)

Pod of dolphins surf effortlessly through the waves in the wild traveling at speeds up to 20 mph. (Photo by Greg Huglin)

Cocoa pods are seen on the ground at a farm in Ile-Oluji village in Ondo state, southwest Nigeria March 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

A woman collects lotus flowers at a lake in Hanoi, Vietnam, 20 June 2018. Lotus flowers, that bloom every June, are collected by Vietnamese people for their inner parts to be mixed with tea for fragrance. (Photo by Luong Thai Linh/EPA/EFE)

Women practice yoga at a lotus pond in Tiande Lake on the International Yoga Day on June 21, 2017 in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)