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White water lily
Nymphaea candida
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White water lily is a floating‑leaved aquatic plant with large, round leaves and showy white, bowl‑shaped flowers. You’ll see it on calm lakes and ponds or in slow rivers. All parts are poisonous.
Did you know?
- Red‑flowered forms are protected in Finland.
- Provincial flower of South Savo.
About the species
Identification
Leaves float on the surface on long, thick stalks from the mud. Floating leaves are round to broadly oval (about 10–30 cm), shiny dark green above and often reddish‑purple below; the notch at the base is deep and its two lobes usually touch or overlap. Flowers are white, many‑petalled, and about 5–12 cm across; the bud is pointed and the base of the flower narrows sharply where it meets the stalk. It resembles other white water‑lilies; look for the overlapping leaf base and sharply narrowing flower base. Flowers in Finland from June to August.
Plant group
Herbaceous plants
Habitat
water
Toxicity
A poisonous plant – do not taste it. Source: HUS Poison Information Centre (Finland), tel. 0800 147 111.
Flowering
Jun–Aug
About the habitat
Grows in still or slow‑moving fresh water such as lakes and ponds, and sometimes in sheltered brackish bays with soft bottoms. Common across most of the country; rare in northern Lapland.
Sources
Photo: Ксения Волянская, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6399574672
Text: Pinkka: Kasvitieteen retkeily Lammille - Vahtervehmas - Valkea Kotinen, Evo, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37841
Text: Pinkka: IPS-153 Flora of Subarctic Europe - Nardus-Pyrola, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37841
Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pohjanlumme
