Nymphaea belophylla is a species of waterlily native to Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela.
Description Vegetative characteristics Nymphaea belophylla is an aquatic herb.Pellegrini, M. O. O. & Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. (n.d.-a). Nymphaea belophylla Trickett. Flora E Funga Do Brasil. Retrieved December 3, 2023, from https://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/FB139872 It has subglobose tubers, which are not stoloniferous. The green, elliptic-sagittate leaves with an acute apex are up to 30 cm long and 11 cm wide. The 4-5 mm wide, non-brittle, green petiole is glabrous.
Generative characteristics The flowers of Nymphaea belophylla are floating and nocturnal. The glabrous, green, non-brittle peduncle is up to 5 mm wide. In the original publication, the flowers are describes as inodorous. In others, the floral fragrance described as sweet and fruity, or as unpleasant and almond-like.Wiersema, J. H. (1987). A monograph of Nymphaea subgenus Hydrocallis (Nymphaeaceae). Systematic Botany Monographs, 1-112. The smooth, pilose, ellipsoid seeds exhibit trichomes arranged in continuous longitudinal lines. The seeds are 0.9 mm wide and 0.75 mm wide. The trichomes are 35-90 μm long.
Cytology The chromosome count is not known.
Reproduction Vegetative reproduction Stolons and proliferating pseudanthia are absent.de Lima, C. T., Machado, I. C., & Giulietti, A. M. (2021). "Nymphaeaceae of Brasil." Sitientibus série Ciências Biológicas, 21.
Habitat In one instance, it has been found growing in flooded grassland savanna at water depths of 110 cm beneath Tabebuia aurea trees. In another case, it was observed growing in floodplains at water depths of 1.5-2m among the grass species Oryza rufipogon and Paspalum wrightii. In the Pantanal, where it can occur sympatrically with Nymphaea oxypetala, it is found in floodplains and rivers.Damasceno-Junior, G. A., & Pott, A. (2022). "Flora and vegetation of the Pantanal Wetland." p. 241. Springer Nature.
Taxonomy It was first described by Trickett in 1971 based on plant material cultivated at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The plants had been introduced to cultivation by Amanda Bleher from a specimen collected in Guaporé River, Brazil.Nymphaea belophylla | International Plant Names Index. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2023, from https://www.ipni.org/n/171170-2 Type specimen The type locality is the Río Guaporé. It seemed that the type material had gone missing,WIERSEMA, J. H. (1984). "A new species of Nymphaea (Nymphaeaceae) from the Amazon Basin." SIDA, Contributions to Botany, 195-198.Ritter, N. P., Crow, G. E., & Wiersema, J. H. (2001). "Nymphaea (Nymphaeaceae) in Bolivia: notes on several species, three new country records, and a key to species." Rhodora, 103(915), 326-331. however the holotype was later found again. The isotype could still not be located.
Placement within Nymphaea It is placed in Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis.de Andrade Amador, G., Damasceno-Júnior, G. A., da Silva, R. H., Pott, A., & Pott, V. J. (2013). "Nymphaeaceae, Nymphaea belophylla Trickett: new state record." Check List, 9(2), 440-442.
Etymology The species name is derived from the Greek βέλος meaning arrow or dart,Robert S. Trickett. (1971). A New Tropical American Waterlily, Nymphaea belophylla. Kew Bulletin, 26(1), 29–31. https://doi.org/10.2307/4117321 and -phylla referring to the leaves. It references the strongly pointed, arrow-shaped leaves.
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