Nymphaea alba

Plant Characteristics

Habit		aquatic
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
Water:	◍	wet
Features:	✓	flowers, foliage
Flower features:	❀	red, white

Scientific Names

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Nymphaea alba, also known as the European White Waterlily, White Lotus, or Nenuphar, is an aquatic flowering plant of the family Nymphaeaceae.

It grows in water from 30-150 centimeters deep and likes large ponds and lakes. The leaves can be up to thirty centimeters in diameter and they take up a spread of 150 centimeters per plant. The flowers are white and they have many small stamens inside.

The red variety which is in cultivation came from Sweden.

It is found all over Europe and in parts of North Africa and the Middle East in freshwater.

Nymphaea candida J. Presl is sometimes considered a subspecies of N. alba (N. alba L. subsp. candida (J. Presl) Korsh.).

Read about Nymphaea alba in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Nymphaea alba, Presl (C. alba, Woodv. & Wood). Lvs. roundish, entire, floating, 4-12 in. across, red when very young; lowest pair of veins straight and diverging: rhizome black: fls. white (in the type), 4-5 in. across, open from 7 A.M. to 4 P.M.; petals broad, ovate, somewhat concave; angles of attachment of sepals rounded; filaments of innermost stamens not wider than the anthers: fr. more or less spherical; seed small. Eu. and N. Afr.—A robust species. In gardens, vars. called Albatross, Harrisiana, Hermine, delicata and splendens may be found. Var. candidissima (var. maxima, var. plenissima) has Lvs. orbicular, lobes strongly curved, overlapping, yellowish when very young: rhizome brownish, sometimes3 in. through: fls. large, pure white, sterile.—The first nymphea to bloom in spring, continuing until frost. Very robust; a most desirable white variety. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Nymphaea alba. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
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