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Is a water lily a sleeping lotus?

Published: 2024-11-22 Author: mysheen
Last Updated: 2024/11/22, Lang Reader: CeCe-is a water lily a sleeping lotus? When I go to the park with my parents in summer, I can always see various colors of aquatic flowers blooming in the pond, and we must be familiar with the names of several aquatic flowers.

Reader: Cece

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Is the lily a sleeping lotus?

Summer with parents to play in the park, can always see the pond has a variety of colors of aquatic flowers in full bloom, among which there are several aquatic flower names we will not be unfamiliar, that is, lotus, lotus and water lily. So, do you know which one is lotus, which one is lotus and which one is water lily? Do you think there is a difference between lotus, lotus and water lily? Are water lilies really sleeping lotuses?

Photo by Derek Ramsey-Wikimedia Commons

Lotus, also known as lotus, belongs to the lotus family, but many people confuse them with water lilies.

Lotus flowers stand high above the water, color for red, pink, white, yellow, no blue and purple; in the middle of the flower there is an inverted conical lotus, lotus around a number of yellow slender stamens, stamens at the top of a match-like white appendage.

▲ Photo source: Pixabay

When flowering lotus leaves are high out of the water, like a lot of umbrellas inserted in the water surface, so it is also called floating root plants, also known as water plants. But be careful, lotus just grow out of the first new leaf will also stick to the water, so to flowering time shall prevail oh!

▲ Photo source: Pixabay

Water lilies are different from lotus flowers and belong to the water lily family.

Most of the leaves of water lilies grow close to the water surface, as if they were spreading a blanket on the water surface, so water lilies are also called "floating plants". When the water lily blooms, it is relatively close to the water surface. The flower color of the water lily is very rich, red, pink, white, yellow, blue, purple and other colors. In the middle of the flower, there is no structure like lotus. The stamen color of the flower is also very many. Generally, the color of the petals is the same. The shape is also like petals. The anthers grow on both sides of the apex. The number of stamens is many. The stamens growing on the outside are wider and taper inward. There are no white appendages at the tips of stamens.

Barnes Dr Thomas G, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Wikipedia commons

In addition, the lotus leaves can be a complete circle, without any gaps, petiole long in the middle of the leaves, a bit like the wind is blown upside down umbrella look. The lily leaves, large or small, have a notch, similar to a heart, and the petiole grows in the notch. Sometimes the gaps in the lily leaves overlap and look like a "complete" circle, but if you look closely, you can still find a crack.

▲ Photo source: Pixabay

Most water lilies have the habit of "sleep", generally open during the day and closed at night, depending on the variety, the specific opening and closing time is also different.

Let's look at the different colors of the water lily!

▲ Picture from Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden

mystery was revealed

Water lilies are not sleeping lotuses! But water lilies like sunlight, flowers open in the sun during the day, closed at night, known as the "sleeping beauty of flowers."

This article is selected from Science Captain

Original author: Zhong Yang, teacher of Fudan University

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