The flower that looks like a spout of a watering can

My travels this year have been characterised by the late blossom, there is been something of a "oh, I wish I had come ealier"-feeling. In the Azores, we were getting only a hew of their blue blossom. 

 

So today in Tokyo, I was wondering about the plants that were crowding the pond (Shinobazu pond in Ueno park). The remains of the flower look like a strainer, or a spout, of a watering can, you know the type?

It turns out that they are Lotus Flowers - or what's left of them. All what we saw was a thick mattres of green round leaves, with a diameter of some half a meter (so really big), floating above the surface of the water. 

Impressively, the "strainers of a watering can" were sticking out, sometimes some 50cm above the water. It appears that what looks like a "strainer" is actually a seed head of a lotus, thier pods. That's pretty cool to learn!!

The picture below is how it looks when flowers are in blossom. The pond has apparently been an inspiration for many pieces of art, like the wood garving from 1866 (that's why no highrisers appear in the pic!).