Water Lilly (Aambal)

Water Lilly (Aambal)

                  

           Water lillies are plants that grow in still or slowlt moving water. They like ponds, streams , and the edges of lakes in tropical and mild areas. Their floating leaves are often called lilly pads. Water lillies grow from the muddy bottom of a body of water. Thick underwater stems are buried in the mud.

The hairy water lily is an aquatic plant having erect perennial rhizomes or rootstocks that anchor it to the mud in the bottom. The rhizomes produce slender stolons.Its leave blades are round above the water and heart-shaped below 15–26(–50) cm, papery, abaxially densely pubescent. Some of the leaves that emerge rise slightly above the water held by their stem in lotus fashion, but most of them just float on the surface. The floating leaves have untie edges that make a crenellate effect. The water lily is also commercialized as an aquarium plant. The underwater leaves of this species have a handsome appearance that is appreciated by aquarists who often remove the floating leaves to keep it as a fully sub aquatic plant. The flowers are quite large, about 15 cm in diameter when fully open. They tend to close during the daytime and open wide at night. Their color varies from white to pink, mauve or purple depending from the variety or hybrid.