Nilofar (Water Lily) vs Kamal (Lotus): Sharbat Nilofar and the Mix-Up
Nilofar is the water lily (Nymphaea), kamal is the lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), and they are not the same plant, even though pansaris, product labels and most of the internet swap the names freely. Sharbat Nilofar, the pale cooling syrup Hamdard, Ajmal and others sell for “jigar ki garmi” and summer thirst, is made from the water lily flower. This page sorts the two plants out first, then looks at sharbat nilofar ke fayde as they are claimed, what the flower’s chemistry can fairly support, how much of the bottle is sugar, and who should leave it on the shelf.
Quick facts
- Nilofar in English: water lily (white water lily, Nymphaea alba; blue or star water lily, Nymphaea nouchali)
- Kamal in English: sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, a different family altogether
- Third lookalike: makhana (fox nut) comes from Euryale ferox, yet another pond plant
- Local names: nilofar, neelofar, nilofer, gul-e-nilofar; Arabic nainufar or nilufar; lotus is kamal, kanwal, kamal ka phool
- Unani mizaj: cold and moist, in the second to third degree
- The products: Sharbat Nilofar (flower, sugar, water) and Arq Nilofar (a distillate)
- Safety flag: it is a sugar syrup; the flower carries mildly sedative alkaloids; never forage pond plants
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Water lily or lotus? How to tell nilofar from kamal in a photo and on a shelf
Look at where the leaf sits. A water lily leaf floats flat on the water and has a notch cut into it, like a pizza with one slice missing. A lotus leaf stands up on a stalk above the water, is round with no notch, and beads water like wax. The flowers follow the same rule: water lily flowers float or sit just above the surface and open in a star of pointed petals; lotus flowers rise high on stiff stems, with broad rounded petals and that unmistakable flat-topped yellow seed head in the middle, the one that becomes kamal gatta.
Botanists separate them further than that. Lotus is not even in the water lily family; it sits in its own family, Nelumbonaceae, and is more closely related to plane trees than to Nymphaea. Makhana, the puffed fox nut, comes from Euryale ferox, a thorny-leaved relative of the water lily, so three different plants share the “lotus” shelf in a dry-fruit shop.
On the pansari’s shelf the puzzle is harder, because what is sold as “nilofar” is dried flower: petals, or more often the stamens, the slim yellow threads from the flower’s centre. Dried lotus stamens look almost identical. More on that below, because it is the only part of this subject where a buyer can be genuinely cheated.
What Unani means by nilofar
Unani texts describe nilofar (Nymphaea alba, with Nymphaea nouchali used across South Asia) as cold and moist, and class it as mufarreh and musakkin: a gladdener of the heart and a calmer. It was given for palpitations, sleeplessness, headache from heat, excessive thirst and “hot” fevers, and as a corrective in hot conditions of the liver. The flower, seed and rhizome were all used. The books also list a harm: it was thought bad for the bladder, with honey named as the corrective. Classical substitutes were khatmi (marshmallow) and banafsha (violet). Nilofar appears in a long list of compound preparations, among them Sharbat Nilofar, Sharbat Ahmad Shahi, Majoon Supari Pak and several arqs.
Lotus has its own, separate place in Ayurveda and Unani, where kamal is also cooling and the seeds and stem are foods. The two traditions overlap in spirit, which is partly why the names blur. For the plant you can actually buy and cook, see our pages on cleaning and cooking kamal kakri (lotus stem) and roasting makhana.
Sharbat Nilofar ke fayde: what is claimed, and what the flower can fairly support
The label and the sellers say: cooling, for excessive thirst, for burning sensations, for palpitations and anxiety, for heat rash and sunstroke, for “jigar ki garmi”. Here is each strand separated honestly.
Reasonably supported
It is cold, sweet and dilute, so a glass of it is hydrating and pleasant in heat. That is the honest basis of “cooling”, and it is the same basis as any sharbat. In Unani terms, cold and moist foods are usually hydrating, low-fat and high in water, and modern medicine agrees that is what a hot, dehydrated body wants.
Preliminary (lab and animal only)
Nymphaea flowers and leaves contain alkaloids and flavonoids, and water lily extracts have shown calming (anxiolytic) effects in mice in several small experiments, including one with Nymphaea alba published in an Indian pharmacology journal in 2011. Blue water lily (Nymphaea nouchali, including the Egyptian “blue lotus”) is reported to contain the aporphine alkaloids apomorphine and nuciferine, which is the chemistry behind its ancient reputation as a relaxant. None of this has been tested in people drinking a sharbat, and a sharbat is a sugar syrup carrying a modest flower extract, not a concentrated alkaloid dose. The fair expectation is a mild, pleasant calm at most, of the kind a cold sweet drink gives anyway.
Tradition only
Palpitations, “liver heat”, bleeding disorders, measles and chickenpox fevers. These are the classical indications, repeated on labels. No clinical evidence supports them, and palpitations in particular are a doctor’s symptom, not a sharbat’s.
Unsupported or unsafe
Any claim that it fixes a liver, lowers a fever, or protects the heart. And anything built on “blue lotus”: smoking or vaping water lily resin, or taking concentrated extracts sold online. A 2023 market survey of blue lotus products found that most of what is sold bears little relation to the real flower and carries unknown ingredients. Sharbat Nilofar is not that, and should not be confused with it.
The sugar maths, and who should skip the bottle
Read the ingredient line: flower, sugar, water. It is a sugar syrup first and a herbal product second, diluted in a glass of water to taste, four or five tablespoons per glass by Ajmal’s own label. That makes one glass comparable to a soft drink in sugar. Anyone with diabetes, prediabetes, fatty liver or a weight problem should count it as a sweet, not as medicine for “garmi”, and the irony is that the “jigar ki garmi” crowd is often the fatty-liver crowd. The sugar arithmetic for a glass of summer sharbat is worked through on our sharbat-e-bazoori page, and a cooler alternative without the syrup is on gond katira lassi for jigar ki garmi.
Arq Nilofar is the sugar-free sibling: a distillate of the flower in water, with the flavour and very little else. It is the better choice for anyone counting sugar, and it tells you something about the whole category: once the sugar is taken away, what remains is a fragrant cooling water.
You have diabetes or are watching your weight: it is a sugar syrup, so count it as one. You take sedatives, sleeping pills or antidepressants: the flower’s alkaloids are mildly sedating in animals, so do not stack it with medicines that do the same, and never use concentrated “blue lotus” extracts. You are pregnant or breastfeeding: there is no safety data, so skip it. For children, treat it as a sweet drink and nothing more, and never for a baby under one. Palpitations, a fast heartbeat at rest, chest discomfort, fainting or breathlessness are not “garmi”; they need a doctor. A fever over three days, yellow eyes, or dark urine likewise. Never collect water lily or lotus from a pond yourself: wild pond plants carry parasites and sewage pollution, and the sedative alkaloids are concentrated in fresh plant parts.
Real or fake: why loose “nilofar” may be lotus, and why it mostly does not matter
The pansari’s blind spot: dried stamens of water lily and lotus cannot be told apart by eye
Both flowers have dozens of slim yellow stamens, and once dried they look the same, which is exactly why plant scientists in Thailand had to use pollen microscopy and infrared chemistry to catch lotus stamens being swapped for water lily and vice versa in herbal teas. No pansari can do that, and neither can you. Loose “gul-e-nilofar” in a jar is therefore an honest guess at best, and dyed petals turn up too. Two consequences follow. First, if the species matters to you, buy the branded sharbat or arq, where the manufacturer at least buys its flower by botanical name. Second, relax a little: lotus stamens are also a traditional cooling ingredient, and neither plant’s dried flower is dangerous in a drink. The swap costs you authenticity, not safety.
Storage is the other practical point. An opened bottle of sharbat sits in a hot kitchen for months, and sugar syrups ferment. Refrigerate after opening, close the cap tightly, and pour it out if the bottle hisses on opening, smells yeasty or sour, or has darkened and separated more than it did when new. Fizz in a sharbat means yeast, not freshness.
Bottom line
Known: nilofar is the water lily and kamal is the lotus, two different plants that even botanists place in different families; Sharbat Nilofar is water lily flower in sugar syrup. Tradition claims: a cooling heart-gladdener for heat, thirst and palpitations. Uncertain: whether the flower’s mild sedative chemistry does anything at sharbat strength. The main safety issue is the plainest one: it is sugar, and the people most drawn to “cooling the liver” are often the ones who should be counting it. For how the hot and cold framework works across foods, read garam and thanda foods in Unani and Ayurveda, and the rest of our Unani & Herbal, Decoded series.
Nilofar, kamal and sharbat nilofar: your questions
Nilofar in English kya kehte hain?
Water lily. The Unani drug is the white water lily (Nymphaea alba), and across Pakistan, India and Bangladesh the blue or star water lily (Nymphaea nouchali) is used under the same name. It is not the lotus.
Is nilofar the same as lotus (kamal)?
No. Nilofar is a water lily (Nymphaea); kamal is the sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), from a different plant family. Water lily leaves float and have a notch; lotus leaves stand above the water and are round. The dried stamens, though, look alike, which is where the confusion is sold.
Sharbat nilofar ke fayde kya hain?
Honestly: it is a cold, sweet, hydrating drink that tradition values for heat, thirst and palpitations, and the water lily flower has mild calming chemistry shown only in animals. Expect a pleasant cooling drink, not a treatment for the liver, the heart or a fever.
Sharbat e nilofar side effects kya hain?
The main one is sugar: a glass carries roughly a soft drink’s worth. Mild drowsiness is possible given the flower’s alkaloids, so do not stack it with sedatives. Avoid in pregnancy for lack of data. Allergic reactions are rare but possible with any plant product; stop if lips or throat itch.
Can diabetics drink sharbat nilofar?
Not as a daily “cooling” habit; it is a sugar syrup and should be counted as a sweet. Arq Nilofar, the sugar-free distillate, gives the same flavour and cooling feel without the sugar. People on insulin or sulfonylureas who eat less in the heat also need to watch for lows, which a sudden sugary glass can mask and then worsen.
What is arq nilofar used for?
It is a distillate of water lily flower in water, used in the same cooling tradition as the sharbat for thirst, heat and a sense of restlessness, and added to other Unani drinks. It is sugar-free, so it suits anyone counting sugar.
Gul e nilofar benefits in Urdu mein kya batate hain?
The Urdu and Unani sources call it mufarreh and musakkin: cheering to the heart and calming, cold and moist in temperament, used for dil ki dharkan, garmi, pyaas and neend ki kami. Those are traditional descriptions; the modern evidence is limited to small animal experiments.
Is blue lotus the same as nilofar?
Botanically it is close: “blue lotus” is a water lily, Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea, not a lotus at all, and nouchali is used as nilofar in South Asia. The products differ completely, though. “Blue lotus” sold online means smokable resin, vapes and extracts, often of unknown content; Sharbat Nilofar is a flower syrup. Do not treat the two as interchangeable.
What is the difference between water lily and lotus?
Different families. Water lily (Nymphaea) has floating, notched leaves and flowers at the surface; lotus (Nelumbo) has round, water-repellent leaves held above the water, tall flowers and the flat seed head that gives kamal gatta. Lotus stem and seeds are foods; water lily is mainly a flower drug in Unani.
Is Sharbat Nilofar safe for children?
As an occasional sweet drink, diluted, for children over one year, yes, in the way any sharbat is. It is not a medicine for a child’s fever, rash or sleeplessness. Nothing with added sugar for babies under one, and no honey under one either.
Sources
- Meraj M et al. A comprehensive review on Nilofar (Nymphaea alba Linn): Unani perspectives and therapeutic potentials. International Journal of Pharmaceutics and Drug Analysis, 2024
- A critical cross-species comparison of pollen from Nelumbo nucifera vs. Nymphaea lotus for authentication of Thai medicinal herbal tea. Plants, 2020
- Thippeswamy BS et al. Anxiolytic activity of Nymphaea alba Linn. in mice. Indian Journal of Pharmacology, 2011 (PubMed record 21455422)
- Chemical composition, market survey and safety assessment of blue lotus (Nymphaea caerulea) extracts. Molecules, 2023
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn., Nelumbonaceae (and Nymphaea nouchali Burm.f., Nymphaeaceae)