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Nymphaea alba
Also called European white waterlily, European White Water Lily, Waterlily, European Water Lily, White Waterlily
A floating-leaved aquatic perennial with round dark green leaves and white, star-shaped flowers that open by day in summer. Grow it in a pond with full sun, planted in clay or loam, with the rhizome about 20 cm below the surface at first.
Nymphaea alba – commonly called the white water lily, European white water lily, or white nenuphar ( NEN-yuu-far) – is an aquatic flowering plant in the family Nymphaeaceae. It is native to North Africa, temperate Asia, Europe, and tropical Asia (Jammu and Kashmir).
Since Nymphaea alba is an aquatic plant, its specialized trichomes are hydropotes, formed at an abaxial surface of the young leaf and packed tightly in the rosette at the rhizome's flattened apex. The rhizomes contain high amounts of carbohydrate and protein.
Nymphaea alba is a vigorous plant which needs plenty of space as the leaves can spread up to 1.5 m (4.9 ft). It prefers to grow in clay or loam in full sun. When it is first introduced into the water, it should be placed rather shallow with the rhizome at around 20 cm (7.9 in) below the surface.
As the plant gets established it can be sunk deeper down to a depth of about 90 cm. In nature it regularly grows deeper than this.
It contains the active alkaloids nupharine and nymphaeine, and is a sedative and an aphrodisiac/anaphrodisiac depending on sources. Although roots and stalks are used in traditional herbal medicine along with the flower, the petals and other flower parts are the most potent. Alcohol can be used to extract the active alkaloids, and it also boosts the sedative effects. The root of the plant was used by monks and nuns for hundreds of years as an anaphrodisiac, being crushed and mixed with wine. In the earliest printed medical textbooks, authors maintained this use, though warning against consuming large and frequent doses.
Nymphaea alba is native all over Europe and in parts of North Africa and the Middle East in fresh water. In Africa, it is found in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. In temperate Asia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Siberia, Iran, Iraq, Palestine and Turkey. It is found in tropical Asia, within the Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Lastly, within Europe, it is found in Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, France, Portugal and Spain. It has been introduced to the Azores, Bangladesh, Chile, parts of China, Myanmar, and New Zealand.
Dotleaf waterlily · Nymphaea nouchali var. zanzibariensis · Giant waterlily · Yellow waterlily · Egyptian lotus · Blue Lotus · American white waterlily · Hairy Water Lily · Pygmy Rwandan waterlily · Waterlily
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Nymphaea alba by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
