Is a water lily just a lotus that has fallen asleep? A detailed explanation of the differences between the two

Reader: Qianqian

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Is a water lily just a lotus that has fallen asleep?

In summer, when you go to the park with your mom and dad, you can always see all kinds of colorful aquatic flowers blooming in the pond. There are a few aquatic flowers whose names you are surely familiar with, and those are the lotus, the lotus flower and the water lily. So, can everyone tell which one is the lotus, which one is the lotus flower, and which one is the water lily? Do you think there is a difference between the lotus, the lotus flower and the water lily? Is the water lily really a lotus that has fallen asleep?

▲Image source: Derek Ramsey - Wikimedia commons

The lotus flower is also called the lotus, and it belongs to the lotus family, but many people confuse them with water lilies.

The lotus flower's blooms stand tall above the water, and the flower colors are mostly red, pink, white and pale yellow, with no blue or purple; in the middle of the flower there is an inverted cone-shaped lotus seedpod, and around the seedpod grow many slender yellow stamens, each with a white appendage at its tip that looks like a match head.

▲Image source: Pixabay

When the lotus flower blooms, its leaves stand tall above the water, as if many umbrellas were stuck into the water surface, so it is also called a floating-leaf rooted plant, and also an emergent plant. But be careful: the very first new leaf that the lotus grows will also lie flat on the water surface, so you should judge by how it looks when it is blooming!

▲Image source: Pixabay

The water lily is different from the lotus flower, and is a plant of the water lily family.

Most water lily leaves grow flat against the water surface, as if a blanket had been spread over the water with the leaves, so the water lily is also called a "floating plant." When the water lily blooms, its flowers are relatively close to the water surface, and the water lily's flower colors are very rich, with red, pink, white, yellow, blue, purple and all kinds of other colors; in the middle of the flower there is no structure like a lotus seedpod, and the flower's stamens are also very varied in color, generally the same color as the petals, and shaped like petals too, with the anthers growing along both sides of the tip; the stamens are very numerous, and the outer stamens are relatively wide, gradually becoming thinner ring by ring toward the inside; there is no white appendage at the tip of the stamens.

▲Image source: Barnes Dr Thomas G, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Wikimedia commons

In addition, the lotus flower's leaf is a complete circle with no notch at all, and the leaf stalk grows from the middle of the leaf, a bit like an umbrella blown inside out by the wind. The water lily's leaf, whether large or small, has a notch, similar to a heart shape, and the leaf stalk grows at the notch. Sometimes the notches of water lily leaves overlap, making them look like a "complete" circle too, but if you look closely you can still find a slit.

▲Image source: Pixabay

Most water lilies have a "sleeping" habit, generally opening by day and closing at night, and depending on the variety, the exact opening and closing times also differ.

Below, let's enjoy water lilies of all different colors!

▲Image from Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden

The answer revealed

A water lily is not a lotus that has fallen asleep! But water lilies love sunlight, opening their flowers by day under the sun and closing at night, and are known as the "sleeping beauty among flowers."

This article is excerpted and compiled from "Science Captain"

Original author: Teacher Zhong Yang of Fudan University

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