Thursday, 25 April 2013

Water Lily - 1


Prickly Waterlily

Prickly Water Lily or Gorgon Plant, is a floating plant with large (4 to 5 feet across), deeply veined, flat leaves. The leaves are "quilted" and have thorns on the surface as well as on the royal purple reverse. The day blooming cup-shaped flowers usually open under water but on rare occasions open above water. They are deep violet with an outer row of white petals. Sharp spines cover the surface of the sepals and stems and also both sides of the leaves. The seeds are edible and considered a delicacy in Manipur.

Yellow Waterlily

Yellow water lily is native to Florida. It is a different species from the fragrant water lily. Blooms are nice but only last 2 days and are infrequent. Rapid spreader, can be invasive in an earth pond but produces many flowers in an artificial pond. Often confused with lotus, water lilies present a gorgeous view, often covering an entire pond with the flowers and their floating round leaves.

Blue Water Lily

The Blue Waterlily, also known as the Indian Blue Lotus is a water-lily that is found in India. The leaves are broadly rounded, 25-40 cm across, with a notch at the leaf stem. The flowers are 10-15 cm diameter, open in the morning, rising to the surface of the water, then close and sink at dusk. It has blue petals, smoothly changing to a pale yellow in the centre of the flower. There is variety Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea is the sky-blue colored so-called Egyptian 'lotus'. It is found growing along the Nile. It was considered extremely significant in Egyptian mythology, since it rose and fell with the sun. Consequently, due to its colourings, it was identified, in some beliefs, as having been the original container, in a similar manner to an egg, of Atum, and in similar beliefs Ra, both solar deities. As such, its properties form the origin of the lotus variant of the Ogdoad cosmogeny.

Tropical Water Lily

No pond is considered complete without water lilies. They are very common in India, and easy to grow. This beautiful cultivar has 4.5-6 inch deep violet purple to wine red flowers, cup-like shape changing to stellate and very sweet fragrance. Very free flowering, can be uses in a tub, small, medium or large water gardens; tolerates partial shade; blooms remain open late.

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