Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis is a subgenus of water lilies in the genus Nymphaea. These plants are perennial aquatic herbs with rhizomes and contractile roots. They have floating leaves that are round to oval with smooth edges. The flowers float on the water surface, open at night, and are pollinated by Cyclocephala beetles. The carpels have enlarged, club-shaped appendages. The flowers give off strong, solvent-like, pungent, fruity, or fermented fragrances.

Taxonomy and names: It belongs to Plantae, angiosperms, Nymphaeales, Nymphaeaceae, genus Nymphaea, subgenus Hydrocallis. The type species is Nymphaea amazonum. Synonyms include Nymphaea sect. Hydrocallis and Nymphaea subsect. Hydrocallis. It was first described as Nymphaea sect. Hydrocallis by Jules Émile Planchon in 1853 and later raised to subgenus by Henry Shoemaker Conard in 1905.

Distribution: southern United States through Central America, the Caribbean, and into South America.