莲（学名：Nelumbo nucifera）是莲科莲属多年生草本出水植物，又称莲花、荷花、荷，古称芙蓉、菡萏、芙蕖。荷花原产于中国，在水中生活，通常被种植于池塘之中。花一般盛开于夏季，荷花也因而成为夏日之风物。

荷花的根茎种植在池塘或河流底部的淤泥上，而荷叶挺出水面。故说莲花是出淤泥而不染。在伸出水面几厘米的花茎上长着花朵单朵，少数花茎上长着双朵或更多。荷花一般长到150厘米高，横向扩展到3米。荷叶最大可达直径60厘米。引人人注目的莲花最大直径可达20厘米。

荷花有超过800个栽培品种，花色从雪白、黄色到淡红色及深黄色和深红色，其外还有分洒锦等等的花色。

Nelumbo nucifera, also known as Indian lotus, sacred lotus, bean of India, or simply lotus, is one of two species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. The Linnaean binomial Nelumbo nucifera (Gaertn.) is the currently recognized name for this species, which has been classified under the former names, Nelumbium speciosum (Willd.) and Nymphaea nelumbo, among others. (These names are obsolete synonyms and should be avoided in current works.) This plant is an aquatic perennial. Under favorable circumstances its seeds may remain viable for many years, with the oldest recorded lotus germination being from that of seeds 1,300 years old recovered from a dry lakebed in northeastern China.