Water lily
Nymphaea spp.
Floating leaves with a slit, flowers at the water. Some Nymphaea/Nuphar have traditional food uses of rhizomes/seeds; many pond-shop lilies are ornamental. Not lotus (Nelumbo has peltate un-slit leaves and a showerhead seed head).
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
What it is
Floating leaves with a slit, flowers at the water. Some Nymphaea/Nuphar have traditional food uses of rhizomes/seeds; many pond-shop lilies are ornamental. Not lotus (Nelumbo has peltate un-slit leaves and a showerhead seed head).
Identification
Leaf slit; flower sits on water. Lotus leaves are round with no slit and stand above water.
Growing
- Climate. Pond ornamental, hardiness varies
- Light. Full sun water
- Soil. Pond baskets
- Planting. Ornamental ponds.
- Harvest. Not a default food crop on this site.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- No USDA FoodData Central nutrient profile is attached here. That is not a claim that the plant contains no nutrients.
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class B. Good foundation: enough unique information to exist as its own destination.