Nuphar lutea, the yellow water-lily, is an aquatic plant of the family Nymphaeaceae, native to northern temperate and some subtropical regions of Europe, northwest Africa, and western Asia.Flora Europaea: Nuphar lutea This species was used as a food source and in medicinal practices from prehistoric times with potential research and medical applications going forward.
Description Vegetative characteristics Nuphar lutea is an aquatic, rhizomatous,Danin, A., & Fragman-Sapir, O. (n.d.). Nuphar lutea (L.) Sm. Flora of Israel and Adjacent Areas. Retrieved 5 December 2024, from https://flora.org.il/en/plants/NUPLUT/ perennial herb with stout,Nuphar lutea (Linnaeus) Smith. (n.d.). Flora of China @ efloras.org. Retrieved 5 December 2024, from http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=220009308 branching, spongy, 3–8(–15) cm wide rhizomes. It has floating and submerged leaves.Padgett, D. J. (2007). A Monograph of Nuphar (Nymphaeaceae). Rhodora, 109(937), 1–95. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23314744 The broadly elliptic to ovate, green, leathery floating leaf with an entire margin, a deep sinus and spreading basal lobes is 16–30 cm long, and 11.5–22.1 cm wide. The adaxial surface is glabrous, and the abaxial surface is glabrous or pubescent. The trigonous petiole is 3–10 mm wide. The very thin submerged leaf with undulate margins has short petioles.
Generative characteristics The fragrant,Lüder, R. (2008). Grundkurs Pflanzenbestimmung: Eine Praxisanleitung für Anfänger und Fortgeschrittene (4th ed.). p. 118. Quelle & Meyer Verlag. solitary, yellow, subglobose, 30–65 mm wide, floatingJanßen, D. (n.d.). Gelbe Teichrose Nuphar lutea (L.) Sm. Flora Emslandia - Pflanzen Im Emsland. Retrieved 5 December 2024, from http://www.flora-emslandia.de/wildblumen/nymphaeaceae/nuphar/nuphar_lutea.htm or emergent flowers have 4–10 mm wide, glabrous to pubescent peduncles. The 5(–6) yellow, broadly ovate to orbicular sepals with a rounded apex are 2–3 cm long. The 11–20 obovate inconspicuous petals with a rounded apex are 7.5–23 mm long. The androecium consists of numerous stamens with 4–7 mm long, yellow anthers. The sulcate, spheroidal pollen grains are 26–50 μm long.Halbritter H., Svojtka M. 2016. Nuphar lutea. In: PalDat - A palynological database. https://www.paldat.org/pub/Nuphar_lutea/302325; accessed 2024-12-05 The gynoecium consists of 5-20 carpels. The stigmatic disk with an entire margin is 7–19 mm wide. The urceolate, green, 2.6–4.5 cm long, and 1.9–3.4 cm wide fruit, which is enclosed in persistent sepals, bears up to 400 ovoid, olive green, 3.5–5 mm long, and 3.5 mm wide seeds.
Cytology The chromosome count is 2n = 34.
Taxonomy It was first described by Carl Linnaeus as Nymphaea lutea L. in 1753. Later, it was transferred to genus Nuphar Sm. as Nuphar lutea (L.) Sm. by James Edward Smith in 1809. It is the type species of its genus.Missouri Botanical Garden. (n.d.-ae). Nuphar Sm. Tropicos. Retrieved 3 March 2025, from https://www.tropicos.org/name/40029474 It is placed in the section Nuphar sect. Nuphar.USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2025. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN Taxonomy). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL: https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=416165. Accessed 3 March 2025.
Species delimitation Some botanists have treated Nuphar lutea as the sole species in Nuphar, including all the other species in it as subspecies and giving the species a holarctic range,Beal, E. O. (1956). Taxonomic revision of the genus Nuphar Sm. of North America and Europe. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 72: 317–346. but the genus is now more usually divided into 8–15 species (see Nuphar for details).USDA Germplasm Resources Information Network: Nuphar
Etymology The specific epithet lutea, from the Latin luteus, means deep yellow or golden yellow.
Ecology Habitat Habitat for Nuphar lutea ranges widely from moving to stagnant waters of "shallow lakes, ponds, swamps, river and stream margins, canals, ditches, and tidal reaches of freshwater streams"; alkaline to acidic waters; and sea level to mountainous lakes up to 3,000 metres in altitude. The species is less tolerant of water pollution than water-lilies in the genus Nymphaea. This aquatic plant grows in shallow water and wetlands, with its roots in the sediment and its leaves floating on the water surface; it can grow in water up to 5 metres deep.Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. It is usually found in shallower water than the white water-lily, and often in beaver ponds. Since the flooded soils are deficient in oxygen, aerenchyma in the leaves and rhizome transport oxygen from the atmosphere to the rhizome roots. Often there is mass flow from the young leaves into the rhizome, and out through the older leaves.Dacey, J. W. H. (1981). Pressurized ventilation in the yellow water lily. Ecology, 62, 1137–47. This "ventilation mechanism" has become the subject of research because of this species' substantial benefit to the surrounding ecosystem by "exhaling" methane gas from lake sediments.
Herbivory Nuphar lutea plant colonies in turn are affected by organisms that eat its leaves, stems, and roots, including birds, deer, elk, and more. The water-lily leaf beetle, Galerucella nymphaeae, spends its entire life cycle around various Nuphar species, exposing leaf tissue to microbial attack and loss of floating ability.
As with other species in the order Nymphaeales, Nuphar lutea provides habitat for fish and a wide range of aquatic invertebrates, insects, snails, birds, crayfish, deer, and beaver in shallow waters along lake, pond, and stream margins.
Distribution and habitat Nuphar lutea is native to the region spanning from Europe to Siberia, Xinjiang, China, and North Algeria. It is extinct in Sicily, Italy. It has been introduced to Bangladesh, New Zealand, and the Russian region Primorye.
Conservation status The IUCN conservation status is Least Concern (LC).
Uses Horticulture It is cultivated as an ornamental plant.Nuphar lutea. (n.d.). EPPO Global Database. Retrieved 5 December 2024, from https://gd.eppo.int/taxon/NUPLU
Food Nuphar lutea is used as food.
Symbolism Stylised red leaves of the yellow water-lily, known as seeblatts or pompeblêden are used as a symbol of Frisia. The flag of the Dutch province of Friesland features seven pompeblêden. Stone masons carved forms of the flowers on the roof bosses of Bristol Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, these are thought to encourage celibacy.
References
External links The International Waterlily & Water Gardening Society, and Nuphar records