Nymphaea alba
Common name
common water lily
Family
Nymphaeaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Conservation status
Not applicable
Brief description
Floating leaved aquatic plant with ‘lily’ shaped leaves and usually with white flowers (can be pale pink and hybrids may be red, yellow or bluish), that can develop dense stands in still and slow flowing waters.
Distribution
Widely naturalised, first record 1950, but widely cultivated and planted before that time.
Habitat
Still and slow flowing water bodies, usually found growing in ornamental pools. It is normally found growing up to 2 m depth in muddy substrates.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland).
OBL: Obligate Wetland
Almost always is a hydrophyte, rarely in uplands (non-wetlands).
Features
Stout horizontal rhizome up to 60 mm across. Leaves are almost round to elliptical in shape, with a deep sinus. Leaves are up to 25 cm across, green or pink on the lower surface, with a distinct main vein. Flowers are either white or pale pink (hybrids can have red, yellow, or blue flowers) and are up to 20 cm across.
Similar taxa
Mexican water lily (Nymphaea mexicana), marshwort (Nymphoides geminata), and fringed water lily (Nymphoides peltata). Mexican water lily has an erect rhizome distinguishing it from common water lily, which has a horizontal rhizome. Mexican water lily also often has brown blotches on the upper surface of leaves, which don’t occur on the leaves of common water lily. Marshwort and fringed water lily have thin stolons which loop across the sediment surface or lie just beneath the water surface, whereas common water lily has thick rhizomes.
Flowering
November, December, January, February, March
Flower colours
Red/Pink, White
Life cycle
Rhizome extension and fragmentation, rarely by seed. Deliberate plantings
Year naturalised
1950
Origin
Native to Northern temperate regions
Reason for introduction
Ornamental pond plant
Attribution
Factsheet prepared by Paul Champion and Deborah Hofstra (NIWA). Habitat information from Coffey and Clayton (1988).
References and further reading
Champion et al (2012). Freshwater Pests of New Zealand. NIWA publication. http://www.niwa.co.nz/freshwater-and-estuaries/management-tools/identification-guides-and-fact-sheets/freshwater-pest-species.