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Nymphaea

Nymphaea
Family: Nymphaeaceae
Nymphaea image
Cristian Bortes
  • FNA
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John H. Wiersema in Flora of North America (vol. 3)
Rhizomes branched or unbranched, erect or repent; elongate stolons present or absent. Leaves mostly floating (vernal leaves submersed; blades sessile, broad). Leaf blade orbiculate to widely ovate or elliptic, basal lobes divergent to overlapping, margins entire to spinose-dentate, apex of lobe acute or acuminate to widely rounded; primary venation mostly palmate, midrib with 1 vein. Flowers floating or emersed, opening diurnally or nocturnally; perianth perigynous, spreading at anthesis; sepals 4, mostly greenish, ovate to elliptic; petals 8-many, spirally arranged or wholly or partially whorled, showy, white, pink, blue, or yellow, broadly lanceolate or ovate to obovate, grading into stamens; stamens yellow or cream-colored, inserted on lateral surface of ovary, spreading at anthesis, sometimes with distal connective appendage; ovary shorter than petals and stamens; stigmatic disk with prominent, distinct, upwardly incurved appendages around margin. Fruits borne on curved or coiled peduncles. Seeds nearly globose to ellipsoid, to 5 mm; aril present. x = 14.

Nymphaea is an important genus of ornamental plants, with numerous cultivars or wild forms grown in water gardens. Some have become naturalized in some places, particularly in Florida, and two such taxa are included in this treatment. A third, N . × daubenyana W. T. Baxter ex Daubeny ( N . micrantha Guillemin & Perrottet × N . caerulea Savigny), with blue flowers and entire leaves and with a proliferous mound of fibrous tissue above insertion of petiole, may also be encountered in Florida.

Prior to conservation in its current sense, the name Nymphaea was frequently used for the genus now known as Nuphar .

JANAS 29(1)
STEMS: ovoid to cylindric rhizomes, often sprouting freely. LEAVES: glabrous or pubescent, elliptic-sagittate to orbicular, entire to spinose-dentate, the apices acute-tapered to truncate, the bases cordate to sagittate, the venation mostly radiate with a prominent midvein, glabrous or pubescent. FLOWERS: floating or raised above the water surface, strongly to faintly odorous; sepals 4 (rarely 3 or 5), green or streaked with red; petals 7-40, showy, white, blue, red or yellow, in various shades; stamens numerous (20-700), multiseriate, the outer ones with broad petaloid filaments, the inner ones slender to filiform; staminodes present; pistils with 5-47 carpels, united or partially united; stigmatic disk broad, concave or almost flat, radiate; ovary multi-locular, ovules numerous in each locule. FRUIT: a berry-like capsule, fleshy or spongy, ripening under water. SEEDS: small, with a floating membranous bell-shaped aril. x = 14. NOTES: 40-50 spp., nearly cosmopolitan. (Name from the classical water nymph, Nymphe). Wiersema, J. H. 1987. Syst. Bot. Monogr. 16:1-112. REFERENCES: Ricketson, Jon. 1995. Nymphaeaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. 29(1). 26.
Vascular plants of NE US and adjacent Canada
Sep 4, green; pet numerous, white or pink, inserted on the ovary; stamens numerous, inserted on the ovary; inner stamens with linear filament and long anther, the outer with progressively widened, petal-like filament and shorter anther; stigmatic disk with 6-30 radiating lines; lf-blades floating, rotund or elliptic with a basal sinus; petioles and peduncles with 4 large air-passages. (Castalia) 30, widespread

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Nymphaea alba
Media resource of Nymphaea alba
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Nymphaea amazonum
Media resource of Nymphaea amazonum
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Nymphaea ampla
Media resource of Nymphaea ampla
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Nymphaea belophylla
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Nymphaea blanda
Media resource of Nymphaea blanda
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Nymphaea bombycina
Media resource of Nymphaea bombycina
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Nymphaea caerulea
Media resource of Nymphaea caerulea
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Nymphaea candida
Media resource of Nymphaea candida
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Nymphaea capensis
Media resource of Nymphaea capensis
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Nymphaea carpentariae
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not available
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Nymphaea conardii
Media resource of Nymphaea conardii
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Nymphaea cyclophylla
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Nymphaea divaricata
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Nymphaea elegans
Media resource of Nymphaea elegans
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Nymphaea gigantea
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not available
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Nymphaea glandulifera
Media resource of Nymphaea glandulifera
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Nymphaea gracilis
Media resource of Nymphaea gracilis
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Nymphaea heudelotii
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Nymphaea hybrida
Media resource of Nymphaea hybrida
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Nymphaea immutabilis
Media resource of Nymphaea immutabilis
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Nymphaea jamesoniana
Media resource of Nymphaea jamesoniana
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Nymphaea kalmiana
Media resource of Nymphaea kalmiana
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Nymphaea leibergii
Media resource of Nymphaea leibergii
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Nymphaea lekophylla
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not available
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Nymphaea lingulata
Media resource of Nymphaea lingulata
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Nymphaea loriana
Media resource of Nymphaea loriana
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Nymphaea lotus
Media resource of Nymphaea lotus
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Nymphaea maculata
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Nymphaea mexicana
Media resource of Nymphaea mexicana
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Nymphaea micrantha
Media resource of Nymphaea micrantha
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Nymphaea nouchali
Media resource of Nymphaea nouchali
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Nymphaea odorata
Media resource of Nymphaea odorata
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Nymphaea orbiculata
Media resource of Nymphaea orbiculata
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Nymphaea prolifera
Media resource of Nymphaea prolifera
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Nymphaea pubescens
Media resource of Nymphaea pubescens
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Nymphaea pulchella
Media resource of Nymphaea pulchella
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Nymphaea reniformis
Media resource of Nymphaea reniformis
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Nymphaea rubra
Media resource of Nymphaea rubra
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Nymphaea rudgeana
Media resource of Nymphaea rudgeana
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Nymphaea stellata
Media resource of Nymphaea stellata
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Nymphaea stuhlmannii
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Nymphaea sulphurea
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Nymphaea tetragona
Media resource of Nymphaea tetragona
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Nymphaea thermarum
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Nymphaea thiona
Media resource of Nymphaea thiona
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Nymphaea ulvacea
Media resource of Nymphaea ulvacea
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Nymphaea x daubenyana
Media resource of Nymphaea x daubenyana
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Nymphaea x marliacea
Media resource of Nymphaea x marliacea
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Nymphaea x thiona
Media resource of Nymphaea x thiona
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Nymphaea zanzibariensis
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not available
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