Plant · GBIF taxon 7326947
Day Waterlily
Nymphaea nouchaliAlso known as Blue Lotus, Star Lotus, Blue Star Water Lily, Manel Flower
Star-shaped blossoms of Day Waterlily open with the morning sun and close by dusk, painting tropical Asian wetlands in shades of violet, blue, and pink. Floating rounded leaves anchored to deep submerged rhizomes provide shade, shelter, and egg-laying surfaces for aquatic wildlife. Reared for millennia across South Asia, these freshwater blooms hold deep cultural symbolism as national flowers in both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
AquaticFloweringDay Blooming
—observations
—countries
—peak records
Least ConcernConservation statusIUCN Red List categoriesLCNTVUENCREWEXLeast ConcernRed List categories, explained →
Diet & prey
- Sunlight
- Water nutrients
- Carbon dioxide
Predators
- Herbivorous fish
- Waterfowl
- Aquatic snails
ThreatsHabitat loss, water pollution, competition from invasive weeds
HabitatsPonds, lakes, slow-moving rivers, wetlands
Life spanPerennial (rhizomes survive for decades)
Size / weightNot available
Classification
- OrderNymphaeales
- FamilyNymphaeaceae
- GenusNymphaea
- SpeciesNymphaea nouchali
Range data is not available yet.
Interaction riskHigh
- Low
- Moderate
- High
- Very high
- Why interaction risk is high
- Safe to observe at a normal distance.
Responsible observation
- Best Viewing: Look for fully expanded blossoms between mid-morning and mid-afternoon on bright days.
- Habitat Respect: Avoid stepping into shallow wetland mud to keep delicate submerged rhizomes intact.
- Reflective Photography: Photograph during still morning hours before breezes disturb the water surface.
Ecological Neighbor (c) Surabhi Srivastava, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Surabhi Srivastava · cc-by
Subspecies Variant "Neelathamara (Blue Lotus) from Neyyattinkara, Kerala" by niranvv is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/. · cc-by
Close Relative Jacek Halicki / CC BY-SA 4.0 · cc-by-sa
Close Relative Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 de · cc-by-sa
Keep collecting in Fauna
Found in Collections
Ecosystem chain
Wetland Territory
Day Waterlily is found in this collection. Identify it in Fauna to fill this slot and continue your progress.
—/12
Help improve the field guideSomething wrong?
Checking your Fauna account…Report a name, category, or profile issue for review.