Cape Blue Waterlily - Nymphaea capensis

Common Name :	Blue waterlily.
Botanical Name :	Nymphaea capensis
Family :	Nymphaeaceae
Bengali Name :	Nil Shapla, Neel Komol.
Photo Taken :	Bangladesh

Waterlily (Nymphaeaceae) is one of the most beautiful flowers that grows in water. Amongst those all colors blue one is really beautiful. It is known as Cape blue waterlily. Binomial name is Nymphaea capensis and belongs to the plant family Nymphaeaceae. This Blue waterlily is native to Africa. In Bangladesh, pink waterlily is quite common in starting from village ponds to shallow water of paddy fields. Pink and the white one is available around Bangladesh. But it's hard to find the blue waterlily from my country Bangladesh.





Blue Waterlily plant is similar to other waterlilies. They grow in water with floating leafs. But this particular waterlily is having glossy leafs. Floating leafs are having long petiole which is connected to the root at ground. Flowers are having lot of lens shaped blue petals with yellow stamens at inner side. Flower has slight fragrant. The seed of the waterlily can remain dormant for many years until a suitable environment for germination is found.

Blue Waterlily (Nymphaea capensis) at Boga Lake, Bandarban

Photos of Blue Waterlily (Nymphaea capensis) were taken from the following locations of Bangladesh. In Bangladesh this is known as Nil Shapla (নীল শাপলা).
1. March 2010: Madhabpur, Moulvibazar.
2. April 2011: Pukurpara, Bandarban.
3. April 2011: Boga lake, Bandarban.


This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icflora.blogspot.com/