Leaf colourred
Native range
- Assam
- Bangladesh
- Cambodia
- India
- Jawa
- Laos
- Malaya
- Myanmar
- Philippines
- Sri Lanka
- Thailand
- Vietnam
rosette Conservation status: LC
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
Parameters
Plant typerosette
Growth ratefast
Tolerates lightmedium – high
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