Visitors have flocked to a Dong minority village in Central China's Hunan province to see two rare ensete lasiocarpum flowers, also known as thousand-petalled lotus.

Rare flower ensete lasiocarpum. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

In Yanjiaodong village of Jingzhou county, visitors took photos of the flowers, marveling at their resemblance to a lotus rising from the ground.

Local villager Yang Xiuguang, 80, said the last time the plant bloomed was around 1981.

The musaceae lotus flower is native to Southwest China's Yunnan province. It is one of six flowers that Buddhist temples are required to grow.

The yellow flower can last a few months.

The lotus flower has been one of China's most important flowers for hundreds of years. It is the subject of poems, paintings, dances, and various architectural decorations. This makes the golden lotus banana variety especially popular.

When it debuted at a flower fair in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, each flower was sold for about 1,200 yuan ($193).

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