Complete specimen ofNymphaea cf.gardneriana Planch. with several floating leaves, as well as submerged leaves with scale bar (50 cm) on a white backgroundComplete specimen ofNymphaea nouchali var.caerulea (Savigny) Verdc. with scale bar (50 cm) on a white backgroundRhizome ofNymphaea gigantea "Albert De Lestang" with scale bar (5 cm) against a grey backgroundSeeds ofNymphaea alba with scale bar (3 mm) against a grey backgroundHalvedNymphaea alba fruit with scale bar (20 mm) against a dark backgroundLongitudinal section ofNymphaea alba flower with scale bar (20 mm) against a dark background S = sepals,P = petals,St = stamina,An = anthers,O = ovary,SD = stigma disc,CT = carpellary teethProliferating pseudanthium or tubiferous flower ofNymphaea prolifera WiersemaNymphaea lotus leaf with scale bar (5 cm) Upper surface (left) and lower surface (right)
Water lilies are aquatic, rhizomatous or tuberous, perennial or annual herbs[6] with sometimes desiccation-tolerant,[7] branched or unbranched rhizomes,[8][3] which can bestoloniferous, or lacking stolons.[3] The tuberous or fibrous roots are contractile.[9] The leaves are mostly floating,[3][8][10] but submerged and emergent leaves occur as well.[11] The shape of the lamina can be ovate, orbicular,[10][12] elliptic,[3] hastate,[13] or sagittate.[14] The width of the lamina ranges in size from 2.5–3 cm[15] to 40–60 cm.[11] The lamina has a deepsinus[13][11][10] and the basal lobes can be overlapping or divergent.[3] The margin of the lamina can be entire, dentate,[8] or sinuate.[13] The leaves can bestipulate,[11][6] or exstipulate.[6] The petioles are a few centimetres to 5–6 m long, and 0.3–1.9 cm wide.[11]
The flowers are emergent, floating,[3] or rarely submerged.[16] The diurnal or nocturnal,[3]chasmogamous or rarelycleistogamous,[9] solitary, hermaphrodite, entomophilous,[6] fragrant or inodorous flowers[17] are mostlyprotogynous.[17] The flowers have (3–)4(–5)[6] green, sometimes spotted sepals,[13] and about 6–50[6] lanceolate to spathulate, differently coloured petals,[13] which are often gradually transitioning into the shape of the stamens.[12][8][3] The gap between petals and stamens can be present or absent.[13] The androecium consists of 20–750 stamens.[6] The stamens can be petaloid[12] or not petal-like.[4] The gynoecium consists of 5–35 carpels.[6] The carpels usually possess a sterile appendage.[12] The globose,[13] fleshy, spongy, irregularly dehiscent fruit,[6] borne on a terete, glabrous or pubescent,[11] curved or coiled peduncle,[3] bears arillate,[13][4] globose to elliptic,[4] hairy or glabrous seeds[13] with a smooth surface or longitudinal ridges.[8] Proliferating pseudanthia or tuberous flowers (i.e., sterile, branching, proliferating floral structures for vegetative propagation[18]) can be present or absent.[19][20]
The genusNymphaea L. was described byCarl Linnaeus in 1753. It has three synonyms:Castalia Salisb. published byRichard Anthony Salisbury in 1805,Leuconymphaea Kuntze published byOtto Kuntze in 1891, andOndinea Hartog published byCornelis den Hartog in 1970.[1] The type species isNymphaea alba L.[2]
The genusNymphaea may be paraphyletic in its current circumscription, as the generaEuryale andVictoria have been placed within the genusNymphaea in several studies.[34][35][36][37][38]
Flowers ofNymphaea subg.Hydrocallis are pollinated byCyclocephala beetles.[41][42] Likewise, beetle pollination byRuteloryctes morio, a member of the sameCyclocephalini tribe, has been reported inNymphaea subg.Lotos.[43][44][45] The subgeneraNymphaea subg.Anecphya andNymphaea subg.Brachyceras are pollinated by bees and flies.[46] The subgenusNymphaea subg.Nymphaea is pollinated by bees, flies and beetles.[47]
Outside of its natural habitat,Nymphaea mexicana and hybrids thereof have become invasive weeds.[48][49][50] It has been proposed to employ the weevil speciesBagous longulus as a biocontrol agent againstNymphaea mexicana in South Africa.[49] Invasive horticultural hybrids can pose a threat toNymphaea species through introgressive hybridisation.[51] The naturalised hybrids can displace native species and mask their disappearance, as it can be difficult to distinguish between species and naturalised hybrids.[52][53]
Several species are in danger of extinction.Nymphaea thermarum is classified as critically endangered (CR),[54]Nymphaea loriana is classified as endangered (EN),[55]Nymphaea stuhlmannii is classified as endangered (EN),[56] andNymphaea nouchali var.mutandaensis is also classified as endangered (EN).[57]
All water lilies are poisonous and contain analkaloid callednupharin in almost all of their parts.[65]
In India, it has mostly been eaten as afamine food or as a medicinal (both cooked).[66]
InSri Lanka it was formerly eaten as a type of medicine and its price was too high to serve as a normal meal, but in the 1940s or earlier some villagers began to grow water lilies in thepaddy fields left uncultivated during themonsoon season (Yala season), and the price dropped. The tubers are calledmanel here and eaten boiled and in curries.[66]
In West Africa, usage varied between cultures, in the Upper Guinea the rhizomes were only considered famine foods - here the tubers were either roasted in ashes, or dried and ground into a flour. TheBuduma people ate the seeds and rhizomes. Some tribes ate the rhizomes raw. TheHausa people of Ghana, Nigeria and the people of Southern Sudan used the tubers ofNymphaea lotus, the seeds (inside the tubers) are locally referred to as 'gunsi' in Ghana. They are ground into flour.[67]
The plants were also said to be eaten in thePhilippines. In the 1950s there were no records of leaves or flowers being eaten.[68]
In a North American species, the boiled young leaves and unopened flower buds are said to be edible. The seeds, high in starch, protein, and oil, may be popped, parched, or ground into flour. Potato-like tubers can be collected from the speciesN. tuberosa (=N. odorata).[69]
Water lilies were said to have been a major food source for a certain tribe of indigenous Australians in 1930, with the flowers and stems eaten raw, while the "roots and seedpods" were cooked either on an open fire or in a ground oven.[70]
The Ancient Egyptians used the water lilies of theNile as cultural symbols.[71] Since 1580 it has become popular in the English language to apply the Latin wordlotus, originally used to designate a tree, to the water lilies growing in Egypt, and much later the word was used to translate words in Indian texts.[72] The lotus motif is a frequent feature of temple column architecture.In Egypt, the lotus, rising from the bottom mud to unfold its petals to the sun, suggested the glory of the sun's own emergence from theprimaeval slime. It was a metaphor of creation. It was a symbol of the fertility gods and goddesses as well as a symbol of the upper Nile as the giver of life.[71]
ARomanbelief existed that drinking a liquid of crushedNymphaea in vinegar for 10 consecutive days turned a boy into aeunuch.[73]
A Syrian terra-cotta plaque from the 14th–13th centuries BC shows the goddessAsherah holding two lotus blossoms. An ivory panel from the 9th-8th centuries BC shows the godHorus seated on a lotus blossom, flanked by twocherubs.[74]
Water lilies are also used as ritual narcotics. According to one source, this topic "was the subject of a lecture by William Emboden given at Nash Hall of theHarvard Botanical Museum on the morning of April 6, 1979".[78]
^abPellegrini, M.O.O. Nymphaeaceae in Flora e Funga do Brasil. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. Disponível em:https://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/FB10936 Acesso em: 27 Nov. 2024
^abcdefghiS.W.L. Jacobs & C.L. Porter.Nymphaea, in (ed.), Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra.https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Nymphaea [Date Accessed: 27 November 2024]
^Robert S. Trickett. (1971). A New Tropical American Waterlily,Nymphaea belophylla. Kew Bulletin, 26(1), 29–31.https://doi.org/10.2307/4117321
^Fischer, E. (1988), Beiträge zur Flora Zentralafrikas. I. Eine neueNymphaea sowie ein neuerStreptocarpus aus Rwanda. Feddes Repertorium, 99: 385-390.
^abWiersema, J. H. (1988). Reproductive Biology ofNymphaea (Nymphaeaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 75(3), 795–804.https://doi.org/10.2307/2399367
^de Lima, C. T., Machado, I. C., & Giulietti, A. M. (2021).Nymphaeaceae of Brasil. Sitientibus série Ciências Biológicas, 21.
^Wiersema, J. H. (1987). A Monograph ofNymphaea SubgenusHydrocallis (Nymphaeaceae). Systematic Botany Monographs, 16, 1–112.https://doi.org/10.2307/25027681
^Wiersema, J. H., & Haynes, R. R. (1983). Aquatic and Marsh Plants of Alabama III. Magnoliidae. Castanea, 48(2), 99–108.http://www.jstor.org/stable/4033073
^Chapter 10Nuphar Alkaloids. J.T. Wróbel, The Alkaloids: Chemistry and Physiology, 1967, Volume 9, Pages 441–465,doi:10.1016/S1876-0813(08)60206-7
^abTiwari, Ashok (September 2019). "Nutritional composition and antioxidative stress properties in boiled tuberous rhizome of Neel Kamal (Nymphaea nouchali Burm. f.)".Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources.10 (1):59–67.
^Adanse, John; Bigson, Kate; Dare, Nyefene Joe; Glago, Patricia (2021). "Proximate and Functional Properties of Water Lily (Nymphaea Lotus),Coconut (Cocos Nicifera) and Wheat (Titricum Aestivum) Flour Blends".J Food Tech Food Chem.3: 104.
^Marcellus Empiricus,De medicamentis 33.64; comparePliny the Elder,Natural History 25.75 (37). "There is an herb callednymphaea in Greek, 'Hercules’ club' in Latin, andbaditis in Gaulish. Its root, pounded to a paste and drunk in vinegar for ten consecutive days, has the astonishing effect of turning a boy into a eunuch."
^Dever, W. G.Did God have a Wife? Archeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2008. pp 221, 279.
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