The water lily grows in such a distinctive way, will you like it?

Other names for the water lily

Ziwulian, pink water lily, wild water lily, dwarf water lily, pygmy water lily

Morphological characteristics of the water lily

The leaves of the water lily are round or nearly round, and may also be ovate, while some varieties are lanceolate or arrow-shaped; the leaf margins are entire, but the leaf margins of tropical water lilies are wavy; the upper surface of the leaf is green and glossy, while the underside is purplish red, and the leaf surface of some varieties has dark brown spots or mottled coloration; the veins may be obvious or not very obvious. In a few varieties of tropical water lilies, small plantlets grow at the top of the large basal notch between the leaf blade and the point where the petiole attaches, commonly known as "vivipary."

The flower of the water lily is composed of organs such as sepals, petals, stamens and pistils, style, carpels, and flower stalk.The flower is solitary and bisexual. There are about 4-5 sepals, green or purplish red, with black dots in the green, and the shapes include lanceolate, narrowly ovate, or oblong. The flower bud is long peach-shaped or peach-shaped; the petals are usually ovate, broadly ovate, oblong, or oblong, and the petal tip is relatively pointed, or slightly blunt. The flower colors include red, pink, blue, purple, white, etc. The petals may be single, multiple, or double. Therefore the size, shape, and color of the petals all vary by variety. This gives rise to a gorgeous appearance. The ovary is superior to perigynous; before the flower opens, the stamens wrap around the upper part of the carpels, and after maturity they open into a sickle shape; the sepals, petals, stamens, etc. are arranged in a spiral on the receptacle and above the ovary wall. The carpels are arranged in a ring and embedded within the receptacle in a connate state, with the upper styles separate; the stigma is filiform, centered on a papillose protrusion, and funnel-shaped, secreting stigmatic fluid at maturity, and the stigmatic fluid mainly contains glucose, sugars, and amino acids, to attract insects for pollination.

The fruit of the water lily is irregular to hemispherical, matures in water, and dehisces irregularly; the seeds are relatively small, elliptical or spherical; most have an aril.

The water lily is a perennial floating-leaved aquatic herbaceous plant, with a relatively thick rhizome, erect or creeping.

The flower language of the water lily

Like the Chinese lotus, the water lily is regarded as the embodiment of holiness and beauty, and is often used as an offering to goddesses. In the New Testament of the Bible, there is also the saying of "a holy thing, emerging from the mud unsoiled."