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yellow water lily

Nuphar lutea flowers emerge about three years after seed germination, blooming mid-spring through early autumn, each flower taking 4 to 5 days to develop -- a process incorporating secretion of a sweet-smelling nectar on the stigma, pollen cross-fertilization by a host of insects (bees, beetles, flies, aphids). Habitat for Nuphar latea ranges widely from moving to stagnant waters of “shallow lakes, ponds, swamps, river and stream margins, canals, ditches, and tidal reaches of freshwater streams;” alkaline to acidic waters; and sea level to mountainous lakes up to 10,000 feet in altitude. The species is less tolerant of water pollution than water-lilies in the genus Nymphaea.

 

Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge

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Uploaded on April 27, 2021
Taken on January 18, 2021