White Water-lily
White Water-lily
Water & Wetland Plant
Britain's only native water-lily — big white flowers and round floating leaves, rooted in the mud but reaching all the way up to the surface of still, deep water.
💡 Fun Facts
- This is Britain's only wild water-lily, with big round leaves that float like green plates on the water.
- Its flowers are the biggest of any wild flower in Britain — up to the width of a side plate.
- It roots in the mud at the bottom and sends its leaves all the way up to the surface, through water that can be deeper than a grown-up is tall.
📅 Through the Year
- Flowering:June to September
Name Story
Nymphaea alba
means “the white water-nymph flower”
a traditional storyThe roots of the name truly do mean ‘water-nymph’ and ‘white’, but linking the flower to the water-spirits of Greek myth is a lovely old tradition rather than a plain description.
What does its name mean?
- Nymphaea — of the water-nymphGreek nymphē ‘a nymph, water-spirit’
- alba — whiteLatin albus ‘white’Decode this word →
In old Greek stories, nymphs were the spirits of streams and pools — and this lovely flower, floating on still water, was dedicated to them. ‘White’ needs no explaining: the blooms are a bright, pure white.