Cladus: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Divisio: Magnoliophyta
Classis: Magnoliopsida
Ordo: Nymphaeales
Familia: Nymphaeaceae
Genus: Nymphaea
Species: Nymphaea pubescens

Name

Nymphaea pubescens Willd., Species Plantarum Edn. 4, 2(2): 1154. 1799.

Synonyms

* Castalia edulis Salisb.
* Castalia pubescens (Willd.) Woodv. & Wood
* Castalia sacra Salisb.
* Leuconymphaea lotus var. pubescens (Willd.) Kuntze
* Nymphaea coteka Roxb. ex Salisb., nom. inval.
* Nymphaea edulis (Salisb.) DC.
* Nymphaea esculenta Roxb.
* Nymphaea lotus var. pubescens (Willd.) Hook. f. & Thomson
* Nymphaea magnifica (Salisb.) Conard
* Nymphaea purpurea Rehnelt & F. Henkel
* Nymphaea rosea (Sims) Sweet
* Nymphaea rubra Roxb. ex Andrews
* Nymphaea sagittata Edgew.
* Nymphaea semisterilis Lehm.
* Nymphaea spontanea K. C. Landon, nom. inval.

References

* Sorting Nymphaea Names

Vernacular names
Internationalization
Svenska: Bronslotus

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The Hairy water lily or Pink water-lily (Nymphaea pubescens) is a species of water lily.

Distribution

This plant is common in shallow lakes and ponds throughout temperate and tropical Asia: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Yunnan, Taiwan, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

It is also found in northeastern Australia and Papua New Guinea.[1]

The hairy water lily is found both as a cultivated plant as well as in the wild. It prefers non-acidic waters and it doesn't tolerate temperatures below 15°C.

Description

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 leves to keep it as a fully subaquatic plant.[2]

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.

The Nymphaea pubescens with white flower was designated as the national flower of Bangladesh and appears in the coat of arms of the country as a simplified heraldic design.
[edit] Naming and variants

The hairy water lily is known as Shapla in Bengali, Kokaa in Hindi and Kumuda in Sanskrit.[3] 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.

Nymphaea pubescens is known under a number of different synonyms, the most common of which is Nymphaea rubra for the reddish variant known under the commercial name Red water lily, which often has also purplish leaves.

References

1. ^ Taxonomy
2. ^ Nymphaea pubescens
3. ^ Names