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Magnoliopsida
Nymphaea L.
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Nymphaea /nɪmˈfiːə/ 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,[2] and some are weeds.[3] Plants of the genus are known commonly as water-lilies,[2] also styled water lilies and waterlilies.[4] The genus name is from the Greek νυμφαια, nymphaia and the Latin nymphaea, which mean "water-lily" and were inspired by the nymphs of Greek and Latin mythology.[2]
Contents
§Description[edit]
Water-lilies are aquatic rhizomatous perennial herbs, sometimes with stolons, as well. The leaves grow from the rhizome on long petioles. Most of them float on the surface of the water. The blades have smooth or spine-toothed edges, and they can be rounded or pointed. The flowers rise out of the water or float on the surface, opening during the day or at night. Each has at least 8 petals in shades of white, pink, blue, or yellow. There are many stamens at the center.[2] Water-lily flowers are entomophilous, pollinated by insects, often beetles.[5] The fruit is berry-like and borne on a curving or coiling peduncle.[2]
§Classification[edit]
This is one of several genera of plants known commonly as lotuses. It is not related to the legume genus Lotus or the Chinese and Indian lotuses of genus Nelumbo. It is closely related to Nuphar lotuses, however. In Nymphaea, the petals are much larger than the sepals, whereas in Nuphar the petals are much smaller. The process of fruit maturation also differs, with Nymphaea fruit sinking below the water level immediately after the flower closes, and Nuphar fruit remaining above the surface.
§Cultural significance[edit]
The ancient Egyptians revered the Nile water-lilies, which were known as lotuses. The lotus motif is a frequent feature of temple column architecture.
The flowers of the Egyptian blue water-lily (N. caerulea) open in the morning and then sink beneath the water at dusk, while those of the Egyptian white water-lily (N. lotus) open at night and close in the morning. Egyptians found this symbolic of the separation of deities and of death and the afterlife. Remains of both flowers have been found in the burial tomb of Ramesses II.
In Roman culture, there was a belief that drinking a liquid of crushed Nymphaea in vinegar for ten consecutive days turned a boy into a eunuch.
A Syrian terra-cotta plaque from the 14th-13th century B.C.E. shows the goddess Asherah holding two lotus blossoms. An ivory panel from the 9th-8th century B.C.E. shows the god Horus seated on a lotus blossom, flanked by two cherubs.[6]
The French painter Claude Monet is known for his paintings of water-lilies.[7]
Nymphaea nouchali is the national flower of Bangladesh[8] and Sri Lanka.[9]
§Cultivation[edit]
Water-lilies are not only decorative, but provide useful shade which helps reduce the growth of algae in ponds and lakes.[10] Many of the water-lilies familiar in water gardening are hybrids and cultivars. The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
- 'Escarboucle'[11] (orange-red)
- 'Gladstoniana'[12] (double white flowers with prominent yellow stamens)
- 'Gonnère'[13] (double white scented flowers)
- 'James Brydon;'[14] (cupped rose-red flowers)
- 'Marliacea Chromatella'[15]' (pale yellow flowers)
- 'Pygmaea Helvola'[16] (cupped fragrant yellow flowers)
§Other Uses[edit]
Water-lilies have several edible parts. The young leaves and unopened flower buds can be boiled and served as a vegetable. The seeds, high in starch, protein, and oil, may be popped, parched, or ground into flour. Potato-like tubers can be collected from the species N. tuberosa.[17]
§Taxonomy[edit]
Subdivisions of genus Nymphaea:[18]
- Subgenus:
- Anecphya
- Brachyceras
- Hydrocallis
- Lotos
- Nymphaea:
- section Chamaenymphaea
- section Nymphaea
- section Xanthantha
§Gallery[edit]
§References[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nymphaea. |
- ^ Nymphaea. The Plant List.
- ^ a b c d e Nymphaea. Flora of North America.
- ^ Nymphaea. The Jepson eFlora 2013.
- ^ Nymphaea. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
- ^ Nymphaeaceae. Flora of North America.
- ^ Dever, W. G. Did God have a Wife? Archeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2008. pp 221, 279.
- ^ "Water Lilies: Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Metropolitan Museum of Art. December 2008. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
- ^ "Bangladesh Constitution".
|chapter=
ignored (help) - ^ Jayasuriya, M. Our national flower may soon be a thing of the past. The Sunday Times April 17, 2011.
- ^ RHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN 1405332964.
- ^ "RHS Plant Selector - Nymphaea 'Escarboucle'". Retrieved 25 May 2013.
- ^ "RHS Plant Selector - Nymphaea 'Gladstoniana'". Retrieved 25 May 2013.
- ^ "RHS Plant Selector - Nymphaea 'Gonnere'". Retrieved 25 May 2013.
- ^ "RHS Plant Selector - Nymphaea 'James Brydon'". Retrieved 25 May 2013.
- ^ "RHS Plant Selector - Nymphaea 'Marliacea Chromatella'". Retrieved 25 May 2013.
- ^ "RHS Plant Selector - Nymphaea 'Pygmaea Helvola'". Retrieved 25 May 2013.
- ^ Peterson, L. A. (1977). A Field Guide to the Wild Edible Plants of Eastern and Central North America. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin. p. 22.
- ^ "USDA GRIN Taxonomy".
|chapter=
ignored (help)
§External links[edit]
- Knotts, K. The first hybrid waterlilies. victoria-adventure.org
- GRIN Species Records of Nymphaea. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).
§Further reading[edit]
- Slocum, P. D. Waterlilies and Lotuses. Timber Press. 2005. ISBN 0-88192-684-1 (restricted online version at Google Books)
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nymphaea&oldid=650500415 |
Nymphaea is a genus of 35–40 species of showy-flowered aquatic plants in the Nymphaeaceae (water-lily family) native to temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions in all continents except Antarctica, but with most species in the Northern Hemisphere. Numerous hybrids and cultivars of different colors, foliage patterns, fragrances, hardiness, and blooming times (day vs. night) have been developed, and are popular as ornamentals in water gardens around the world. Despite the name, water-lilies are not true lilies (which would belong to the family Liliaceae). The genus name is derived from Greek mythology, from the lesser deity Nymphe, a water nymph.
In their native habitats, water-lilies typically grow in mostly freshwater ponds, lakes, and quiet backwaters. They may be deciduous or evergreen perennials that grow from thick rootstocks or tubers, rooted underwater at depths of 8 cm (3 inches) to two meters (6 feet). Leaves are circular to oval, 4–50 cm wide, notched at the petiole (stem), and generally float on the water surface. Flowers, which range from 2–30 cm in diameter, have 4 sepals and numerous petals and stamens, and may be white, yellow, pink, red, violet, or blue. In addition to producing fruits, some of the tropical species propagate viviparously, producing young plantlets at the base of leaves or from tubers that develop in the flowers.
Water-lilies have been admired since antiquity, and are depicted in Egyptian art and artifacts from 4,000 B.C. Starting in the 1850s, plant breeders in Europe and the United Kingdom perfected methods for hybridizing them, spurring the development of thousands of cultivars. A Texas water-lily enthusiast maintains a collection of over 4,000 cultivars (as described in this New York Times September 2011 profile). Water-lilies are also famous as subject of a series of 250 oil paintings by Claude Monet (see Wikipedia).
Leaves, roots, and seeds of some Nymphaea species are edible, and have various traditional medicinal uses (see PFAF 2011).
(Atsma 2011, Everett 1981, FNA 2011, Knotts 2011, Lawson 1851, PFAF 2011, Slocum 2005, Wikipedia 2011)
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Jacqueline Courteau, Jacqueline Courteau |
Source | No source database. |
Aquatic perennial. The floating leaves grow from a tuberous rhizome. the erect flowers are usually held above the surface of the water on fleshy stems.
Aquatic herbs. Leaf lamina elliptic to subcircular, deeply cordate, peltate. Sepals 4, green. Petals 5-many, inner ones shorter and narrower, grading into the stamens. Stamens with petaloid filaments. Carpels numerous, many-ovulate. Fruit a large fleshy berry, ripening under water. Seeds floating owing to a pulpy sack-like aril.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings, Flora of Zimbabwe |
Source | http://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=578 |
Nymphaea L., 1753
License | Public Domain |
Rights holder/Author | No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation. |
Source | http://treatment.plazi.org/id/F2717D7F2A6E899CAE8244EA59D1F2E9 |
Widespread from Egypt, throughout tropical Africa to KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Depth range based on 22 specimens in 4 taxa.
Environmental ranges
Depth range (m): 1.25 - 1.25
Note: this information has not been validated. Check this *note*. Your feedback is most welcome.
License | http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Ocean Biogeographic Information System |
Source | http://www.iobis.org/mapper/?taxon_id=817029 |
Depth range based on 2 specimens in 1 taxon.
Environmental ranges
Depth range (m): 120 - 192
Graphical representation
Depth range (m): 120 - 192
Note: this information has not been validated. Check this *note*. Your feedback is most welcome.
License | |
Rights holder/Author | Ocean Biogeographic Information System |
Source | http://www.iobis.org/mapper/?taxon_id=637803 |
Foodplant / shot hole causer
superficial, clumped mycelium of Ramularia anamorph of Colletotrichum nymphaeae causes shot holes on live leaf of Nymphaea
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | BioImages, BioImages - the Virtual Fieldguide (UK) |
Source | http://www.bioimages.org.uk/html/Nymphaea.htm |