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Nymphaea tuberosa
| Common name: |
Tuberous Water Lily |
Family: |
Nymphaeaceae |
| Author: |
Paine. |
Botanical references: |
43, 200 |
| Synonyms: |
Nymphaea odorata tuberosa ((Paine.)Wiersema.&Hellq.) |
| Known Hazards: |
None known |
| Range: |
North-eastern N. America. |
| Habitat: |
Pond margins and slow streams[43]. |
| Edibility Rating (1-5): |
4 | Medicinal Rating (1-5): | 3 |
| Other Possible Synonyms: | From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below. |
| Castalia lekophylla[P]
Castalia minor[P]
Castalia odorata[P]
Castalia reniformis[P]
Castalia tuberosa[B,P]
N. minor[P]
N. odorata[B,C,CAL,E,G,HORTIPLEX,Smo,Sngs,P]
N. odorata ssp. tuberosa[B]
N. odorata subsp. tuberosa[G]
N. odorata var. gigantea[P]
N. odorata var. godfreyi[P]
N. odorata var. maxima[B,P]
N. odorata var. minor[P]
N. odorata var. rosea[P]
N. odorata var. stenopetala[P]
N. odorata var. villosa[P]
|
| Other Common Names: | From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below. |
| American White Water-lily [B], American White Waterlily [P], Fragrant Water Lily [S], Kokulu Nilufer [E], Pond Lily, White Or Fragrant [S], Pondlily,White [E], White Or Fragrant Pond Lily [S], White Pond Lily [S], |
| Epithets: | From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets |
|
phaea = dusky;
tuberosa = tuberous;
|
| Systematics: | From a USDA
Plants Database |
|
Order: Nymphaeales. Water-lily family
|
| Other Range Info: |
From the Ethnobotany Database |
|
Turkey; Us; Us(Amerindian); Us(Sc)
|
Physical Characteristics
Perennial. It is hardy to zone 3. It is in flower from July to September, and the seeds ripen from August to October. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Flies.
The plant is self-fertile.
We rate it 4/5 for edibility and
3/5 for medicinal use.
The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils.
The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils.
It cannot grow in the shade.
It can grow in water.
Habitats and Possible Locations
Pond.Edible Uses
Root; Seed.
Seed - cooked[159, 177]. The seed can be ground into a powder and used
as a flour or fried and used like popcorn[183].
The root is rich in starch, oil and protein[183].
The bitter tasting tuber is occasionally eaten[105, 159, 177, 183]. The
bitterness can be reduced somewhat by leaching the root in water.
Medicinal Uses
Disclaimer
Alterative; Anodyne; Antiseptic; Astringent; Demulcent.
The following notes are the medicinal uses of N. odorata. It is said
that this species can be used interchangeably[238].
The root is alterative, anodyne, antiseptic, astringent and demulcent[4, 21,
165, 238]. A tea made from the roots is used in the treatment of TB, chronic
bronchial complaints, diarrhoea, dysentery, gastrointestinal inflammation,
gonorrhoea, vaginal discharge, inflamed glands, mouth sores and to stop
bleeding[222, 238].
A poultice made from the roots is used in the treatment of swellings, boils,
tumours, inflamed skin, vaginitis etc[222, 238]. The roots are harvested in
the autumn once the plant has died down, and are dried for later use[238].
A complete cure of uterine cancer by a decoction and uterine injection has
been recorded[4].
Other Uses
None known
Cultivation details
A water plant requiring a rich soil and a sunny position in still or
slowly moving water[56, 200]. Succeeds in water from 30 - 120cm deep[200].
Prefers a pH between 6 and 7[200].
There are two basic types of plant in this genus (this species is a
crawler):-
'crawlers' are species with horizontal roots that often spread
freely, with new plants being formed at intervals along the root. These
species are useful for naturalising, but they do not flower very freely in
the cool summers of Britain[214].
'clumpers' have vertical roots, they form slowly spreading clumps
and produce offsets around the crown. These forms flower much more freely in
Britain[214].
The flowers have a fruity perfume like that of ripe apples[245]. The variety
rosea is more strongly fragrant[245].
Propagation
Seed - sow as soon as it is ripe in a greenhouse in pots submerged
under 25mm of water. Prick out into individual pots as soon as the first true
leaf appears and grow them on in water in a greenhouse for at least two years
before planting them out in late spring.
The seed is collected by wrapping the developing seed head in a muslin bag
to avoid the seed being lost. Harvest it 10 days after it sinks below the
soil surface or as soon as it reappears[200].
Division in May. Each portion must have at least one eye. Submerge in pots
in shallow water until established[56].
Scent
-
Flowers: Fresh
- The flowers have a fruity perfume like that of ripe apples[245]. The variety rosea is more strongly fragrant[245].
Suppliers
For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.
Web References
- Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
- [G] Data
(Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
- [P] Data.
(uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
References for Nymphaea odorata (a possible synonym).
- [E] Ethnobotany Data
(common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
- [V] Images
from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
- [B] Data
(Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
- [S] Image
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [S] Image
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [S] Illustration
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [G] Data
(Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
- [C] Taxon data.
from the CalFlora database.
- [P] Data.
(uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
- [HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database
References for Nymphaea odorata ssp. tuberosa (a possible synonym).
References for Nymphaea odorata subsp. tuberosa (a possible synonym).
- [G] Data
(Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
References for the family Nymphaeaceae.
See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.
Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.
[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
[21] Lust. J. The Herb Book. Bantam books 1983 ISBN 0-553-23827-2
Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.
[56] Muhlberg. H. Complete Guide to Water Plants. E. P. Publishing Ltd. 1982 ISBN 0-7158-0789-7
Deals with a wide range of plants for temperate areas (and indoor aquaria) with quite a lot of information on cultivation techniques.
[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.
[159] McPherson. A. and S. Wild Food Plants of Indiana. Indiana University Press 1977 ISBN 0-253-28925-4
A nice pocket guide to this region of America.
[165] Mills. S. Y. The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism.
An excellent small herbal.
[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
[214] Matthews. V. The New Plantsman. Volume 1, 1994. Royal Horticultural Society 1994 ISBN 1352-4186
A quarterly magazine, it has articles on Himalayacalamus hookerianus, hardy Euphorbias and an excellent article on Hippophae spp.
[222] Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990 ISBN 0395467225
A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.
[238] Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London. 1995 ISBN 0-7513-020-31
A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.
Readers Comments
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Bibliography
Plant information taken from the
Plants For A Future -
Species Database.
Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963 This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Nymphaea+tuberosa
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