Nymphaea nouchali var. zanzibariensis

'Nymphaea nouchali'' var. zanzibariensis' is a variety of the water lily species Nymphaea nouchali'' Burm.f. naturally found in the region stretching from Southeastern Kenya to Southern Africa, including the Comoros and Madagascar. It has been Introduced into Florida, USA.

Description


It is day blooming and nonviviparous plant. Its flower has dark blue to violet color and consists of 4-5 sepals and 13-15 petals. The shape is cup-like with a diameter of 11–14 cm. The round leaves are green on the top and have bluish-violet underside. Their size is about 20–23 cm and their spread is 0.9 to 1.8m

Cytology
The haploid chromosome count is n = 14. The genome size is 489 Mb.

Publication
It was first described as Nymphaea zanzibariensis Casp. by Robert Caspary in 1877. Later, it was included in the species Nymphaea nouchali Burm.f. as the variety Nymphaea nouchali var. zanzibariensis (Casp.) Verdc. published by Bernard Verdcourt in 1989.

Usage
It is used as an ornamental flower and has the advantage of having a long flowering period. In addition it even keeps flowering when the temperatures drops to 18 C. It has been used to create several cultivars and hybrids.