Nymphaea pubescens

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Nymphaea pubescens
Nymphaea pubescens JNTBGRI.jpg
water lily (Nymphaea pubescens)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Order: Nymphaeales
Family: Nymphaeaceae
Genus: Nymphaea
Species:
N. pubescens
Binomial name
Nymphaea pubescens
Synonyms [2]
  • Castalia pubescens(Willd.) Wood
  • Nymphaea lotus var. pubescens(Willd.) Hook.f. & Thomson
  • Nymphaea devoniensisHook.
  • Nymphaea purpureaRehnelt & F.Henkel
  • Nymphaea semisterilisLehm.

Nymphaea pubescens, the hairy water lily or pink water-lily, is a species of water lily.

Contents

Distribution

White and pink Nymphaea pubescens blooming in a pond. Sarasbagh.jpg
White and pink Nymphaea pubescens blooming in a pond.

This plant is common in shallow lakes and ponds throughout temperate and tropical Asia: Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Yunnan, Taiwan, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.[ citation needed ] It is the national flower of Bangladesh. [3]

It is also found in northeastern Australia and Papua New Guinea. [4]

The hairy water lily is found both as a cultivated plant as well as in the wild. It prefers non-acidic waters and it does not tolerate temperatures below 15 °C.[ citation needed ]

Description

Nymphaea pubescens-3-JNTBGRI-kerala-India.jpg
Adaxial leaf surface of Nymphaea pubescens

The hairy water lily is an aquatic plant having erect perennial rhizomes or rootstocks that anchor it to the mud in the bottom. The rhizomes produce slender stolons.

Its leave blades are round above the water and heart-shaped below 15–26(–50) cm, papery, abaxially densely pubescent. Some of the leaves that emerge rise slightly above the water held by their stem in lotus fashion, but most of them just float on the surface. The floating leaves have undy edges that make a crenellate effect.

The hairy water lily is also commercialized as an aquarium plant. The underwater leaves of this species have a handsome appearance that is appreciated by aquarists who often remove the floating leaves to keep it as a fully subaquatic plant. [5]

The flowers are quite large, about 15 cm in diameter when fully open. They tend to close during the daytime and open wide at night. Their color varies from white to pink, mauve or purple depending from the variety or hybrid.

Taxonomy

Publication

It was published by Carl Ludwig Willdenow in 1799. [2]

Position within Nymphaea

It is placed in Nymphaea subg. Lotos. [6]

Naming and variants

The hairy water lily is known kokaa in Hindi and Kumuda in Sanskrit. [7] The leaves of this plant have fuzzy or hairy undersides and the stems are covered by the same hairs as well, hence the name "pubescens" or "hairy" of the species. This is not a characteristic that is apparent when looking at the plant from above the water though.

This species of water lily has quite a few artificially raised varieties, in addition to many natural hybrids.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nymphaeaceae</span> Family of plants

Nymphaeaceae is a family of flowering plants, commonly called water lilies. They live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains five genera with about 70 known species. Water lilies are rooted in soil in bodies of water, with leaves and flowers floating on or emergent from the surface. Leaves are round, with a radial notch in Nymphaea and Nuphar, but fully circular in Victoria and Euryale.

<i>Nymphaea</i> Genus of aquatic plants

Nymphaea is a genus of hardy and tender aquatic plants in the family Nymphaeaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution. Many species are cultivated as ornamental plants, and many cultivars have been bred. Some taxa occur as introduced species where they are not native, and some are weeds. Plants of the genus are known commonly as water lilies, or waterlilies in the United Kingdom. The genus name is from the Greek νυμφαία, nymphaia and the Latin nymphaea, which mean "water lily" and were inspired by the nymphs of Greek and Latin mythology.

<i>Nelumbo nucifera</i> Species of aquatic flowering plant

Nelumbo nucifera, also known as sacred lotus, Indian lotus, or simply lotus, is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. It is sometimes colloquially called a water lily, though this more often refers to members of the family Nymphaeaceae.

<i>Zantedeschia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the arum family Araceae

Zantedeschia is a genus of eight species of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants in the aroid family, Araceae, native to southern Africa. The genus has been introduced, in some form, on every continent.

<i>Nymphaea nouchali <span style="font-style:normal;">var.</span> caerulea</i> Species of plant

Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea, is a water lily in the genus Nymphaea, a botanical variety of Nymphaea nouchali.

<i>Nymphaea lotus</i> Species of water lily

Nymphaea lotus, the white Egyptian lotus, tiger lotus, white lotus, or Egyptian water-lily, is a flowering plant of the family Nymphaeaceae.

<i>Nuphar lutea</i> Species of flowering plant

Nuphar lutea, the yellow water-lily, brandy-bottle, or spadderdock, is an aquatic plant of the family Nymphaeaceae, native to northern temperate and some subtropical regions of Europe, northwest Africa, and western Asia. This species was used as a food source and in medicinal practices from prehistoric times with potential research and medical applications going forward.

<i>Aponogeton crispus</i> Species of aquatic plant

Aponogeton crispus is an aquatic plant species.

<i>Aponogeton undulatus</i> Species of aquatic plant

Aponogeton undulatus is a species of aquatic plant, sometimes used in aquariums. Some taxonomists consider this should be under the name Aponogeton stachyosporus.

<i>Nymphoides peltata</i> Species of aquatic plant

Nymphoides peltata is perennial, rooted aquatic plant with floating leaves of the family Menyanthaceae.

<i>Nymphaea odorata</i> Species of aquatic plant

Nymphaea odorata, also known as the American white waterlily, fragrant water-lily, beaver root, fragrant white water lily, white water lily, sweet-scented white water lily, and sweet-scented water lily, is an aquatic plant belonging to the genus Nymphaea. It can commonly be found in shallow lakes, ponds, and permanent slow moving waters throughout North America where it ranges from Central America to northern Canada. It is also reported from Brazil and Guyana.

<i>Nymphaea candida</i> Species of water lily

Nymphaea candida J. Presl is a species of flowering plant in the genus Nymphaea, native to quiet freshwater habitats in Eurasia, it is in flower from July to August. It is sometimes treated as a subspecies of N. alba

<i>Nymphaea leibergii</i> Species of water lily

Nymphaea leibergii, also known as the dwarf waterlily and Leiberg's waterlily, is a perennial emergent aquatic plant belonging to the genus Nymphaea. It can be found across northern North America in ponds and slow moving streams. Populations of this plant are infrequent throughout its range, and it is protected as a state threatened plant in Maine, Michigan, and Minnesota.

<i>Nymphaea nouchali</i> Species of aquatic plant

Nymphaea nouchali, often known by its synonym Nymphaea stellata, or by common names blue lotus, star lotus, red water lily, dwarf aquarium lily, blue water lily, blue star water lily or manel flower, is a water lily of genus Nymphaea. It is native to southern and eastern parts of Asia, and is the national flower of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In Sanskrit it is called utpala. This species is usually considered to include the blue Egyptian lotus N. nouchali var. caerulea. In the past, taxonomic confusion has occurred, with the name Nymphaea nouchali incorrectly applied to Nymphaea pubescens.

<i>Persicaria amphibia</i> Species of plant

Persicaria amphibia is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by several common names, including longroot smartweed, water knotweed, water smartweed, and amphibious bistort. It is native to much of North America, Asia, Europe, and parts of Africa, and it grows elsewhere as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed.

<i>Nymphaea gigantea</i> Species of plant in the family Nymphaeaceae

Nymphaea gigantea, commonly known as the giant waterlily or blue waterlily, is a perennial, herbaceous plant in the family Nymphaeaceae which is native to parts of northern and eastern Australia, and it has been widely cultivated elsewhere. It is an aquatic plant whose natural habitat is permanent and semi-permanent still water bodies

<i>Costus spectabilis</i> Species of flowering plant

Costus spectabilis, commonly known as the yellow trumpet, is an African, gregarious species of herb; low and perennial, it is found from Sierra Leone to Sudan to as far south as Angola and Zimbabwe.

<i>Nymphaea vaporalis</i> Species of water lily

Nymphaea vaporalis is a species of waterlily endemic to Queensland, Australia.

<i>Nymphaea loriana</i> Species of water lily

Nymphaea loriana is a species of waterlily endemic to Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, Canada.

Nymphaea nouchali var. petersiana is a variety of the water lily species Nymphaea nouchali Burm.f. native to the region spanning from Tanzania to South Africa.

References

  1. Gupta, A.K. 2011. Nymphaea pubescens. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011: e.T168878A6544567. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-1.RLTS.T168878A6544567.en. Accessed on 03 July 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Nymphaea pubescens Willd". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  3. Islam, Sirajul (2012). "National Emblem". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  4. "Taxonomy". Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
  5. Nymphaea pubescens
  6. Conard, H. S. (1905). "The waterlilies: A monograph of the genus Nymphaea." pp. 198-199. Carnegie Institution of Washington.
  7. Names