What is "lotuses"

Usage examples of "lotuses".

Then he led me to an artificial lake, which had been so artfully planted around with reeds and lotuses that one could easily mistake the whole invention for an unusually successful work of nature.

But then, for the first time ever, I opened my eyes underwater and I was entranced by the bright fish, the swaying green ferns, the chains of lotuses on their way to the surface.