Graine a' voler means seeds that fly in Cajun country, because as the pod dries the seeds can propel 20 feet.
Native Americans used the North American Lotus as medicine and food. They used the seeds and root as a tea and to make a poultice to sooth inflammation.
For food they ground the root into flour, cooked the spring leaves, baked the tubers, ate the young seeds raw or roasted and boiled or ground the ripe winter seeds into meal.
Sometimes they extracted an edible oil and made a kind of popcorn with the seeds.