Species
+

Nymphaea nouchali Burm.fil.

Blue Lotos, Blue Lotus, Cape Blue Waterlily, Cape Water Lily

Climate known 62 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Nymphaea nouchali, often known by its synonym Nymphaea stellata, or by common names blue lotus, star lotus, red water lily, dwarf aquarium lily, blue water lily, blue star water lily or manel flower, is a water lily of genus Nymphaea. It is native to southern and eastern parts of Asia, and is the national flower of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. This species is usually considered to include the blue Egyptian lotus N. nouchali var. caerulea. In the past, taxonomic confusion has occurred, with the name Nymphaea nouchali incorrectly applied to Nymphaea pubescens.

Text from Wikipedia, “Nymphaea nouchali”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Nymphaea

Nymphaea is a genus of hardy and tender aquatic plants in the family Nymphaeaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution. Many species are cultivated as ornamental plants, and many cultivars have been bred. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Nymphaea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Nymphaeaceae
Described by
Burm.fil.
Native to
Egypt, Burundi, Congo +51
Wild records
1452 in range· 547 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Feb, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
863mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jan 124 mm (CHELSA)
Light
25–39DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 863 mm a year, wettest January at 124 mm, driest July at 33 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 6.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Castalia acutiloba (DC.) Hand.-Mazz.; Castalia stellaris Salisb.; Castalia stellata (Willd.) Blume; Castalia versicolor (Sims) Tratt.; Leuconymphaea sansebariensis (Casp.) Kuntze and 39 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (605 mm of 863 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.7 °C against a yearly mean of 21.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 863 mm a year, wettest January at 124 mm, driest July at 33 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

863 mm a year at the habitat, 605 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 124 mm, driest July at 33 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 478 mm to 1969 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 6.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 6.8 °C, the absolute minimum 4.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 11.8 °C in July (across the envelope cells 7.4 °C to 24.3 °C), warmest day 27.9 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 6.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 23 °C in Jul to 28 °C in Feb; mean night from 12 °C in Jul to 20 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 863 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1003 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 4.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°36.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)4.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 25–39RH 56–61 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1003 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C28 / 24–3128 / 24–3128 / 24–3126 / 22–3225 / 20–3123 / 18–3023 / 18–3024 / 19–3026 / 20–3227 / 21–3427 / 22–3327 / 23–31
Night °C20 / 15–2420 / 16–2419 / 15–2418 / 13–2515 / 11–2513 / 8–2512 / 7–2413 / 9–2416 / 11–2418 / 13–2419 / 14–2320 / 15–23
Rain mm124 / 20–253108 / 22–23891 / 35–20065 / 20–17643 / 3–19835 / 2–16133 / 0–18940 / 0–19642 / 2–19574 / 17–167100 / 45–159108 / 22–213
DLI39 / 33–4437 / 34–4235 / 31–4031 / 26–3928 / 21–3625 / 18–3426 / 19–3329 / 24–3734 / 29–4338 / 31–4639 / 30–4539 / 31–46
RH %61 / 55–6661 / 55–6761 / 54–6661 / 49–6559 / 46–6557 / 46–6556 / 45–6557 / 41–6659 / 39–6559 / 43–6560 / 49–6561 / 54–66

Each figure is the median across the 1003 grid cells holding the 1384 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2033:4149 (-11.675, 27.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 4.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 6.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1003 distinct grid cells holding the 1384 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2033:4149 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -11.50_27.500, lapse-corrected -35 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1228 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeEgypt, Burundi, Congo, Rwanda, Zaïre, Chad, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Comoros, Madagascar, Afghanistan, Palestine, Oman, Yemen, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Philippines, Sumatera, New Guinea, Northern Territory, Queensland· introduced: Ascension, Mauritius, New South Wales, New Zealand North, Fiji, Cook Is., Society Is., Tubuai Is., Florida, Costa Rica, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast
Kew's description“tuberous hydrogeophyte” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-28.375, 32.125 · in the densest population, 412 records (28% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1452 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 547 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1252 km away. 207 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 68 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1452 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Nymphaea nouchaliNymphaea nouchaliNymphaea nouchaliNymphaea nouchaliNymphaea nouchaliNymphaea nouchaliNymphaea nouchaliNymphaea nouchali

Photographs: (c) Thomas Mesaglio, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Robert Taylor, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Diossina, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) ignacio_diaz05, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Nymphaea nouchali, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

A comprehensive review on Nymphaea stellata: A traditionally used bitter
M. K. Mohan Maruga Raja, Neeraj Kumar Sethiya, SH Mishra (2010) · Journal of Advanced Pharmaceutical Technology amp Research
Antimicrobial activities of endophytic fungi of the Sri Lankan aquatic plant Nymphaea nouchali and chaetoglobosin A and C, produced by the endophytic fungus Chaetomium globosum
Ranga Dissanayake, Pamoda B. Ratnaweera, David E. Williams, C. Dilrukshi Wijayarathne (2016) · Mycology&#58 An International Journal on Fungal Biology
Phytochemical analysis and In vitro antioxidant acitivity of hydroalcoholic seed extract of Nymphaea nouchali Burm. f.
Mabel Parimala, Francis Gricilda Shoba (2013) · Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine
Purification and characterization of a Ca2+-dependent novel lectin from Nymphaea nouchali tuber with antiproliferative activities
Syed Rashel Kabir, Md. Abu Zubair, Md. Nurujjaman, Md. Azizul Haque (2011) · Bioscience Reports
Antibacterial activity of Nymphaea nouchali (Burm. f) flower
Biplab Kumar Dash, Monokesh K. Sen, Khasrul Alam, Kamal Hossain (2013) · Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials
In vitro antimicrobial activity and HPTLC analysis of hydroalcoholic seed extract of Nymphaea nouchali Burm. f.
Mabel Parimala, Francis Gricilda Shoba (2014) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
ANTIMICROBIAL EFFECTS OF INDONESIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS EXTRACTS ON PLANKTONIC AND BIOFILM GROWTH OF PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA AND STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS
Sylvia Utami Tanjung Pratiwi, Ellen Lagendijk, Triana Hertiani, Sandra de Weert (2015) · International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Nymphaea 7 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 74 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.