2513.000 Nymphaea L.

Description of the genus

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.

Worldwide: c. 50 species, cosmopolitan.

Zambia: 7 taxa.

Insects associated with this genus:
Paraponyx fluctuosalis (Fluctuating china mark) Larval foodplant
Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea

Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
divaricata Hutch. NImage
heudelotii Planch.
lotus L.SDescription, Image
maculata Schumach. & Thonn.
nouchali Burm. f. var. caerulea (Savigny) Verdc.B,N,W,C,SDescription, Image
nouchali Burm. f. var. petersiana (Klotzsch) Verdc.?Description, Image
sulphurea Gilg N,W

Other sources of information about Nymphaea:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Nymphaea
Flora of Burundi: Nymphaea
Flora of Caprivi: Nymphaea
Flora of the DRC: Nymphaea
Flora of Malawi: Nymphaea
Flora of Mozambique: Nymphaea
Flora of Rwanda: Nymphaea
Flora of Zimbabwe: Nymphaea
Flora of Zimbabwe: cultivated Nymphaea

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Nymphaea
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Nymphaea
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Nymphaea
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Nymphaea
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Nymphaea
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Nymphaea
JSTOR Plant Science: Nymphaea
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Nymphaea
Plants of the World Online: Nymphaea
Tropicos: Nymphaea
Wikipedia: Nymphaea

Copyright: Mike Bingham, Annette Willemen, Nicholas Wightman, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Mark Hyde, 2011-25

Bingham, M.G., Willemen, A., Wightman, N., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. and Hyde, M.A. (2025). Flora of Zambia: Genus page: Nymphaea.
https://www.zambiaflora.com/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=578, retrieved 31 March 2025

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