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30/06/2008 02:51. The 31st annual Echo Park Lotus Festival is only two weeks away, but something--something central to the event--is missing: The Lotus.

The past few years have seen a disturbing and rapid decline in the lotus blooms and leaves that typically spring up in the lake and bathe the water's surface in beautiful pinks and whites. But it's not just a temporary stall in flowering--some believe that the lotus will not be back, and the Lotus Festival will be lotus-free, save for a smattering of sad, dying leaves, described in the LA Times as "sickly, yellowed pads floating in foul-smelling water." (LA Observed's Chicken Corner (an Echo Park-focused blog) found one lone leaf last month in the water; the Times ' count as of this week is 12.)

The Times also points out the historic significance of the... // LAist