Nymphaeaceae () is a family of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s, commonly called water lilies. They live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

and

tropical climate Tropical climate is the first of the five major climate groups in the Köppen climate classification identified with the letter A. Tropical climates are defined by a monthly average temperature of or higher in the coolest month, featuring hot te ...

s around the world. The family contains five genera with about 70 known species. Water lilies are

root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

ed in

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

in bodies of water, with

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

and

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s floating on or rising from the surface. Leaves are oval and heart-shaped in '' Barclaya''. Leaves are round, with a radial notch in ''

Nymphaea ''Nymphaea'' () is a genus of hardiness (plants), 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 ta ...

'' and '' Nuphar'', but fully circular in '' Victoria'' and '' Euryale''. Water lilies are a well-studied family of plants because their large flowers with multiple unspecialized parts were initially considered to represent the floral pattern of the earliest flowering plants. Later genetic studies confirmed their evolutionary position as

basal angiosperms The basal angiosperms are the flowering plants which diverged from the lineage leading to most flowering plants. In particular, the most basal angiosperms were called the ANITA grade, which is made up of ''Amborella'' (a single species of shrub f ...

. Analyses of floral morphology and molecular characteristics and comparisons with a sister taxon, the family Cabombaceae, indicate, however, that the flowers of extant water lilies with the most floral parts are more derived than the genera with fewer floral parts. Genera with more floral parts, ''Nuphar'', ''Nymphaea'', ''Victoria'', have a

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

pollination syndrome Pollination syndromes are suites of flower traits that have evolved in response to natural selection imposed by different Pollination, pollen vectors, which can be abiotic (wind and water) or biotic, such as birds, bees, flies, and so forth thro ...

, while genera with fewer parts are pollinated by

flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...

bees Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

, or are self- or

wind-pollinated Anemophily or wind pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen is distributed by wind. Almost all gymnosperms are anemophilous, as are many plants in the order Poales, including Poaceae, grasses, Cyperaceae, sedges, and Juncaceae, rushes. ...

.Phylogeny, Classification and Floral Evolution of Water Lilies (Nymphaeaceae; Nymphaeales): A Synthesis of Non-molecular, rbcL, matK, and 18S rDNA Data, Donald H. Les, Edward L. Schneider, Donald J. Padgett, Pamela S. Soltis, Douglas E. Soltis and Michael Zanis, Systematic Botany, Vol. 24, No. 1, 1999, pp. 28-46 Thus, the large number of relatively unspecialized floral organs in the Nymphaeaceae is not an ancestral condition for the clade.

Description

Vegetative characteristics

The Nymphaeaceae are annual or perennial,Christenhusz, M. J. M., Fay, M. F., Chase, M. W. (2017)
Plants of the World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Vascular Plants.
p. 91. Vereinigtes Königreich: University of Chicago Press. aquatic, rhizomatous herbs. The family is further characterized by scattered vascular bundles in the stems, and frequent presence of

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...

, usually with distinct, stellate-branched sclereids projecting into the air canals. Hairs are simple, usually producing

mucilage Mucilage is a thick gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms. These microorganisms include protists which use it for their locomotion, with the direction of their movement always opposite to that of the secretion of ...

(slime). Leaves are alternate and spiral, opposite or occasionally whorled, simple, peltate or nearly so, entire to toothed or dissected, short to long petiolate, with blade submerged, floating or emergent, with palmate to pinnate venation.

Stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole (botany), petiole). They are primarily found among dicots and rare among monocots. Stipules are considered part ...

s are either present or absent.Nymphaeaceae in Flora of North America @ efloras.org. (n.d.). Retrieved September 5, 2024, from http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=10618L. Watson, & M. J. Dallwitz. (n.d.). The families of flowering plants - Nymphaeaceae Salisb. Retrieved September 5, 2024, from https://www-archiv.fdm.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/delta/angio/www/nymphaea.htm

Generative characteristics

Flowers are solitary, bisexual, radial, with a long pedicel and usually floating or raised above the surface of the water, with girdling vascular bundles in receptacle. Some species are protogynous and primarily cross-pollinated, but because male and female stages overlap during the second day of flowering, and because it is self-compatible, self-fertilization is possible. Female and male parts of the flower are usually active at different times, to facilitate cross-pollination, although this is just one of several reproductive strategies used by these plants. There are 4–12

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s, which are distinct to connate, imbricate, and often petallike. Petals lacking or 8 to numerous, inconspicuous to showy, often intergrading with

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s. Stamens are 3 to numerous, the innermost sometimes represented by staminodes. Filaments are distinct, free or adnate to petaloid staminodes, slender and well differentiated from anthers to laminar and poorly differentiated from anthers; pollen grains usually monosulcate or lacking apertures.

Carpels Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ...

are 3 to numerous, distinct or connate. The fruit is an aggregate of nuts, a berry, or an irregularly dehiscent fleshy spongy capsule. Seeds are often arillate, more or less lacking

endosperm The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the Embryo#Pla ...

Taxonomy

Nymphaeaceae has been investigated systematically for decades because botanists considered their floral morphology to represent one of the earliest groups of

angiosperms Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit. T ...

. Modern genetic analyses by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group researchers has confirmed its basal position among flowering plants. In addition, the Nymphaeaceae are more genetically diverse and geographically dispersed than other basal angiosperms. Nymphaeaceae is placed in the order

Nymphaeales The Nymphaeales are an order of flowering plants, consisting of three families of aquatic plants, the Hydatellaceae, the Cabombaceae, and the Nymphaeaceae (water lilies). It is one of the three orders of basal angiosperms, an early-divergin ...

, which is the second diverging group of angiosperms after ''

Amborella ''Amborella'' is a monotypic genus of understory shrubs or small trees endemic to the main island, Grande Terre, of New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific Ocean. The genus is the only member of the family Amborellaceae and the order Amborella ...

'' in the most widely accepted flowering plant classification system,

APG IV system The APG IV system of flowering plant classification is the fourth version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy for flowering plants (angiosperms) being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). It was publish ...

. Nymphaeaceae is a small family of three to six genera: '' Barclaya'', '' Euryale'', '' Nuphar'', ''

'', '' Ondinea'', and '' Victoria''. The genus ''Barclaya'' is sometimes given rank as its own family, Barclayaceae, on the basis of an extended

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower. It is a structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepal ...

tube (combined sepals and

petals Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''coroll ...

) arising from the top of the

ovary The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/ oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are end ...

and by stamens that are joined in the base. However, molecular phylogenetic work includes it in Nymphaeaceae. The genus ''Ondinea'' has recently been shown to be a morphologically aberrant species of ''Nymphaea'', and is now included in this genus. The genera ''Euryale'', of far east Asia, and ''Victoria'', from South America, are closely related despite their geographic distance, but their relationship toward ''Nymphaea'' need further studies. The sacred lotus was once thought to be a water lily, but is now recognized to be a highly modified eudicot in its own family Nelumbonaceae of the order Proteales.

Fossils

Several fossil species are known, including

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

representatives of ''Nymphaea'', as well as fossil genera such as '' Jaguariba'' from the Cretaceous of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, '' Allenbya'' from the

Ypresian In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, '' Notonuphar'' from the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, '' Nuphaea'' from the Eocene of Germany,Gee, C. T., & Taylor, D. W. (2019)
"An Extinct Transitional Leaf Genus of Nymphaeaceae from the Eocene Lake at Messel, Germany: ''Nuphaea engelhardtii'' Gee et David W. Taylor gen. et sp. nov."
''International Journal of Plant Sciences'', 180(7), 724-736. '' Susiea'' from the Late Paleocene Almont Flora of North Dakota, USA, and '' Barclayopsis'' from the Maastrichtian of Eisleben, Germany.

Invasiveness

The beautiful nature of water lilies has led to their widespread use as

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

s. The Mexican waterlily, native to the Gulf Coast of North America, is planted throughout the continent. It has escaped from cultivation and become invasive in some areas, such as California's

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

. It can infest slow-moving bodies of water and is difficult to eradicate. Populations can be controlled by cutting top growth. Herbicides can also be used to control populations using

glyphosate Glyphosate (IUPAC name: ''N''-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide and crop desiccant. It is an organophosphorus compound, specifically a phosphonate, which acts by EPSP inhibitor, inhibiting the plant enzyme 5-en ...

and fluridone.

Culture

The water lily is the national flower of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. The Emblem of Bangladesh contains a lily floating on water. It is also the birth flower for the month of July. The Nymphaeaceae, which is also called (Nilufar Abi in Persian), can be seen in many reliefs of the Achaemenid period (552 BC) such as the statue of Anahita in the

Persepolis Persepolis (; ; ) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and ...

. Lotus flower was included in Kaveh the blacksmith's Derafsh and later as the flag of the Sasanian Empire

Derafsh Kaviani Derafsh Kaviani ) was the royal standard Derafsh (in Latin: vexilloid) of Iran ( Persia) used since ancient times until the fall of the Sasanian Empire. The banner was also sometimes called the "Standard of Jamshid" ( ), the "Standard of Ferey ...

. Today, it is known as the symbol of Iranians

Solar Hijri Calendar The Solar Hijri calendar is the official calendar of Iran. It is a solar calendar, based on the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Each year begins on the day of the March equinox and has years of 365 or 366 days. It is sometimes also called the S ...

. Lily pads, also known as '' Seeblätter'', are a charge in Northern European heraldry, often coloured red (

gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). Gules is portrayed in heraldic hatch ...

), and appear on the flag of Friesland and the

coat of arms of Denmark The coat of arms of Denmark () has a lesser and a greater version. The state coat of arms () consists of three pale blue lion (heraldry), lions attitude (heraldry)#Passant, passant wearing crown (heraldic charge), crowns, accompanied by nine re ...

(in the latter case often replaced by red hearts). The water lily has a special place in

Sangam literature The Sangam literature (Tamil language, Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், ''caṅka ilakkiyam''), historically known as 'the poetry of the noble ones' (Tamil language, Tamil: சான்றோர் செய்யுள், ''Cā ...

and Tamil poetics, where it is considered symbolic of the grief of separation; it is considered to evoke imagery of the sunset, the seashore, and the shark.

Heraldry

Blason Antoine Dubois (1756-1837).svg, The emblem of

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

and

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

Antoine Dubois (1756–1837). Cyril Newall Arms.svg, Personal coat of arms of Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall (1946) National emblem of Bangladesh.svg, National Emblem of Bangladesh (1972–present) File:Escudo de Montederramo (Orense).svg, Coat of arms of Montederramo, Ourense.

In visual arts

Claude Monet Nympheas 1915 Musee Marmottan Paris

Water lilies were depicted by the French artist

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

(1840–1926) in a series of paintings.

The Maya

The main job of the

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

rulers during

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

was to obtain clean and drinkable water for their citizens during both the wet and dry seasons. Their success in accomplishing this is what allowed them to grow their polity by attracting dry-season laborers. They did this by constructing water systems such as reservoirs, wetland reclamation, and dams and channels to capture and store rainwater. With their knowledge of the wetland biosphere, they transformed artificial reservoirs into wetland biospheres. One way that they tested whether the water systems were working properly was if the Nymphaeaceae were thriving. Water lilies became a visual sign of water cleanliness, so the Maya elite began to associate themselves with the flowers. The Maya began to use water lily iconography depicted on

stelae A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

, monumental architecture, murals, and in hieroglyphic writing. Even in Maya settlements like

Palenque Palenque (; Yucatec Maya: ), also anciently known in the Itza Language as Lakamha ("big water" or "big waters"), was a Maya city-state in southern Mexico that perished in the 8th century. The Palenque ruins date from ca. 226 BC to ca. 799 AD ...

, where the main water supplies were springs and flowing streams (places where water lilies cannot grow), the flowers were prevalent in their iconographic records. Aristocrats and religious figures wore masks and/or headdresses during celebratory events that had water lilies and/or water lily symbols to appear like gods. There is also evidence that water lilies were used as cultural

entheogenic Entheogens are psychoactive substances used in spiritual and religious contexts to induce altered states of consciousness. Hallucinogens such as the psilocybin found in so-called "magic" mushrooms have been used in sacred contexts since ancie ...

. Some interpretations of ritual scenes drawn out by the Maya have been blood being extracted from perforated body parts. However, more close examinations show that this is instead a liquid flowing directly from water lily flowers that were on the heads of certain gods. It is likely that the Maya ingested these plants to create a non-ordinary state of consciousness, which makes sense because there is a class of opiate alkaloids in Nymphaeaceae. Overall, these examples show just how important this specific form of water symbolism was throughout the Maya region.

Gallery

File:Lilypad.jpg, Lily pads floating in a lake in Toronto, Canada File:Matkusjoki 20210709 142526.jpg, Lily pads floating on Matkusjoki River in

Iisalmi Iisalmi (; ) is a cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality in the regions of Finland, region of Northern Savonia in Finland. It is located north of Kuopio and south of Kajaani. The municipality has a population of (), ...

, Finland File:Water Lily Sambalpur.jpg, Water lily at Sambalpur File:Claude Monet 038.jpg, ''Water Lilies,'' 1920-1926, Musée de l'Orangerie File:Nuphar pumila (4) 1200.jpg, ''Nuphar pumila'' 2014 in China File:Water lily opening bloom 20fps.ogv, Time-lapse video of a water lily blooming File:Nymphaea caerulea 01.jpg, Water lily blooming in Sankarpur of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

File:Blue-Lotus.jpg, Blue water lily of

File:Henllys Water Lilies.jpg, Yellow water lilies in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, 2021 File:Water lilies in Nairobi, Kenya.jpg, Water lilies in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

File:Water Lily 2018.jpg, White Water Lily File:Nymphaea 'Detective Erika' (ISG), jardin jungle.jpg, ''Nymphaea'' 'Detective Erika' in the jungle garden in France

References

External links

Nymphaeaceae of Mongolia in FloraGREIF
{{Authority control Angiosperm families Aquatic plants Extant Early Cretaceous first appearances