WATER LILY
Nymphaea — Water Lily family (Nymphaeaceae)
DESCRIPTION
The Blue Waterlily is a beautiful native aquatic plant found across northern Australia. Its large flowers rise above the water and can range from pale blue and lavender to deeper purple, with a striking yellow centre. Broad, round leaves float on the water's surface.
QUICK FACTS
The flowers may be blue, violet, lavender or almost white.
• Its leaves float on the surface while the roots are anchored in the mud below.
• Waterlilies provide habitat and food within freshwater wetland ecosystems.
• Their flowers attract insects that can carry pollen between flowers. Pollination allows flowering plants to reproduce.
• Waterlilies are also an important traditional food resource in Kakadu; Parks Australia includes waterlilies among the area's bush foods.
WHERE IT LIVES
It grows in freshwater wetlands, including billabongs, lagoons, swamps and seasonally flooded areas. In Kakadu, waterlilies are a familiar part of the vast floodplains and billabongs that fill during the wet season and gradually shrink as the country dries.
WHAT IT EATS
A water lily doesn't eat like an animal. It makes its own food using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide through a process called photosynthesis.
PETE'S PHOTO STORY
Waterlilies are one of my favourite subjects to photograph. I was photographing this beautiful flower when a small flying insect appeared above the bright yellow centre. I had only a moment to capture it hovering there. It's those unexpected moments that can turn a simple photograph into something special.