For some, water lilies, namely the so-called white water lilies, are familiar and uninteresting flowers, for others they are shrouded in legends and mystery. This plant has several names - nymphaea, even lotus (the name is used in Egypt and India for certain species). We will get to know more about the features of the external structure of the aquatic representative of the flora and learn about it a number of interesting facts.
Descriptions
In the photo of a water lily, you can see that this plant is characterized by amazing elegance, natural harmony. It is a perennial, belongs to the Nymphaeum (Kuvshinkovy) family, it can be found in reservoirs practically all over the globe, but it prefers a temperate and tropical climate.
Distinctive features of water lily are as follows:
- A powerful rhizome with a large number of long roots, due to which the plant is held in the ground.
- The stem is transformed into a rhizome or has the appearance of a tuber.
- Large white flower with a yellow center. It is characterized by a symmetrical shape, a long peduncle and a double perianth. Sepals no more than 4-5, several pistils.
- The sheet has a simple structure, thick, heart-shaped. Due to the fact that inside it there are cavities with air, it does not submerge under water. There are plants with large leaves, there are also species in which they are small.
- There are also underwater leaves, rolled up with a cap and covered with films; under them, surface leaves develop.
- The surface of the surface plates is dense, as if covered with wax - this is a means of protecting it from moisture. Most often they are green in color, but some plants have a bright burgundy color, others are colored motley.
- The fruit is an underwater many-leafed.
The plant prefers to grow in bodies of water with stagnant water and good lighting. Due to their decorative properties, some varieties have been actively used in landscape design, allowing you to create unique water compositions.
Color spectrum
The color of the plant water lily is diverse. In addition to the usual snow-white flowers, you can find such colorings:
- Blue
- Violet.
- Lilac.
- Cream.
- Pink.
- Yellow.
- Red
Bright colors are inherent in those plants that grow in warm corners of the planet, a more modest design is inherent in water lilies - residents of Russia.
Plant features
Having become acquainted with the description of water lily, we turn to the story about the distinguishing features of this beautiful plant:
- In the morning, water lily flowers open, but close with sunset.
- Flowering occurs between the second half of May and the end of August. The life expectancy of one flower is small - no more than 4 days.
- Often, a water lily is confused with another aquatic representative of the flora, a small egg, the distinguishing feature of which is bright yellow flowers.
You can meet the classic version of a water lily - a white water lily - in central Russia, the Far East, and Central Asia.
Breeding
Consider how the lily reproduces. Pollinated by insects, the flower sinks to the bottom, where the polyspermum, the fruit ripening, looks similar to a berry. It contains more than a thousand seeds - small, black, caviar-like fish that float to the surface after the death of the berry. Floating on the surface of the water, they often become food for fish and birds, and are also carried by the current. Those seeds that are preserved are gradually released from the mucus surrounding them and sank to the bottom, where they germinate.
Also, water lilies have the ability to multiply by rhizome, it is this method that is considered to be the main one for them.
Myths and legends
Folk beliefs ascribe the plant magical properties, calling it "grass-laden", a mermaid color. It was believed that the water lily protects, helps defeat the enemy, but if the thoughts of the person using it are black, magic will be turned against him.
Scandinavian legends tell that each water lily has its own elf friend who lives exactly the same time as a beautiful plant.
Interesting Facts
We offer you to get acquainted with a selection of interesting facts about water lilies:
- Sometimes these plants are confused with sea lilies, also resembling a water lily, but science has proved that the latter do not belong to the plant world, representing primitive animals.
- In a sheet of water lily, water lilies, there is a large amount of air located in special cavities. Therefore, it is not immersed in water if you place anything on it that exceeds it in weight, for example, a bird.
- The plant has a pleasant aroma that attracts insects for pollination. Sometimes the bugs that got inside the flower are forced to spend the night in it, because after sunset the water lily closes. In the morning, insects are selected from flower captivity.
- It is considered an amphibian - after drying, the native pond is able to survive on land.
Water lilies are indicators of the ecological situation in a reservoir - if their number is sharply reduced, then the lake or pond is polluted.
