A tropical water lily from India with red night-opening flowers. Grown from a tuber, it is quick and undemanding, and in an aquarium it is kept for its leaves rather than its blooms.
- Light
- medium–high
- Difficulty
- easy
Native rangeRange on the map
- Assam
- Bangladesh
- Cambodia
- India
- Jawa
- Laos
- Malaya
- Myanmar
- Philippines
- Sri Lanka
- Thailand
- Vietnam
Tank conditions
- Leaf colour
- red
- Plant type
- rosette
- Growth rate
- fast
- Tolerates light
- medium – high
Care and keeping
Appearance
Broad rounded leaves on long stalks growing from a tuber. The flowers are red and open from evening until late morning, closing during the day — a habit that separates this lily from the hardy garden kinds.
Keeping
Easy and fast: medium to strong light, a nutritious substrate, no carbon dioxide needed. Its speed is the thing to watch — leaves reach the surface quickly and shade everything under them, so surface leaves are cut off if the plant is grown for the underwater ones.
Placement
The middle or back of a large tank, alone. Plants sold under this name vary, and only a flowering plant can settle which lily it really is.
Propagation
By daughter tubers formed beside the parent.
Cultivars
The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.
Other varieties: Nymphaea rubra Knolle
Scientific and other names, conservation status
- Other scientific names
- Castalia magnifica, Castalia rubra, Leuconymphaea rubra, Nymphaea magnifica, Nymphaea rosea, Nymphaea rubra, Nymphaea rubra latipetala, Nymphaea rubra longiflora, Nymphaea rubra sanguinolenta, Nymphaea rubra columbiana, Nymphaea rubra krumbiegelii, Nymphaea rubra purpurea, Nymphaea rubra rosea, Nymphaea omarana, Nymphaea omarana rosea
- Nymphaea rubra
- Roxb. ex Andrews
- Family
- Nymphaeaceae
- Conservation status
- LC