Nymphaeaceae
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Nymphaeaceae
Water Lily with Flower
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Nymphaeales Family: Nymphaeaceae Salisb. (1805)

Nymphaeaceae is the botanical name of a family of flowering plants. The family is also called the water lily family. The white water lily is the national flower of Bangladesh. It is also the birth flower for July.

Water lilies are rooted in soil in bodies of water, with leaves and flowers floating on the water surface. The leaves are round, with a radial notch in Nymphaea and Nuphar, but fully circular in Victoria.

Horticulturally, water lilies are divided into two main categories: hardy and tropical. Hardy water lilies bloom only during the day, but tropical water lilies can bloom either day or night, and are the only group to contain blue-flowered plants.

Water lilies can be fragrant (for example Nymphaea odorata). There are hundreds of variations of a common water lily.

Water lilies were depicted by the French artist Claude Monet in a series of paintings.

Taxonomy

The genus Barclaya is sometimes given rank as its own family Barclayaceae on the basis of an extended perianth tube (combined sepals and petals) arising from the top of the ovary and by stamens that are joined basally. But recent work lends weight to keeping it in the Nymphaeaceae.

In the past Nymphaeaceae often have been treated to include Cabombaceae but this is often segregated. The sacred lotus family Nelumbonaceae was once thought to be a water lily, but is now recognized to be a highly modified eudicot in the order Proteales.

Genera

• Barclaya
• Euryale
• Nuphar
• Nymphaea
• Ondinea
• Victoria - Giant water lilies

Gallery

A bee pollinating a water lily	A painting of water lilies by Claude Monet.	Water lily at Hodges Gardens, Park and Wilderness Area.	Water lilies in Mombasa, Kenya.
A woman standing on the large lilypad of a victoria water lily. A piece of wood has been placed atop the leaf to distribute her weight.	Tropical water lily in Malaysia.	Water lily from India Taken at Auroville, Pondicherry, India	Water lilies at the Schonbrunn in Wien
A pink water lily in Sydney, Australia.	Nymphaea alba taken at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens	Water Lilies in Italy.

Also see

• Nelumbo
• Pond

References

• The genera of the Nymphaeaceae and Ceratophyllaceae in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 40: 94-112.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Nymphaeaceae

• NCBI Taxonomy Browser
• Phylogenetic analysis of the order Nymphaeales based on the nucleotide sequences of the chloroplast
• Flora of North America
• Water Lilies,