Accepted name: Nuphar lutea
Rhizome 4-8 cm thick. Leaves large, to 30 cm or more wide, thick and leathery, notched to the stalk. Leaf stalk 3-angled. Flowers 4-6 cm wide, summer; stalks 2-3 m long, cylindrical. Sepals 5, green and yellow outside, yellow inside. Petals 7-10 mm long, yellow. Stigma disc with 15-20 rays; summer. Fruit 4-6 cm long.
The common name is derived from the flask-shaped fruit and alcoholic smell of the flowers.
First recorded in 1875 as a troublesome weed in Central Lake at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in Melbourne. Several major eradications have been needed since then, the last being the 'Save the Lake' campaign of 1983. Plants are possibly restricted in their growth by the freshwater crayfish (yabbie) and common carp.
Europe, N Africa, N Asia
Leaves with veins spreading from midrib; 5 sepals; stigma rays 15-20; ovary superior.
Source: (1997). Nymphaeaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
