Nymphaea alba is an aquatic perennial herbs and flowering plant in the family Nymphaeaceae. It is native to North Africa, temperate Asia, Europe and tropical Asia (Assam, Jammu and Kashmir). The Assamese common name of the plant is Bhet (ভেট). The other common names are Nilofar, Romanian White Waterlily, Eurpoean white water lily, White water lily, (in Bengali) Swetshaluk, (in Manipuri) Tharo-angouba, (in Sanskrit) kumuda, utpalam, (in Tamil) neytarkilanku, neytal, neitharkizhangu, (in Urdu) Nilofar, Gule nilofar, (in Kashmiri) Brimposh, etc. It grows in water below1 to1.5 feet deep and spreads in ponds and lakes.
Flowers of white water lily are bisexual, usually solitary and floating and colour is white and petals are 20-25 and shape is ovate-oblong. The flower has long peduncles, lot of yellow stamens in the center. Leaves are usually floating or submerged and have long petiolate. Shape of leaves is hastate or sagittate, margin crenate, apex obtuse.
Taxonomy
Kingdom : Plantae
Phylum : Tracheophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Nymphaeales
Family : Nymphaeaceae
Genus : Nymphaea
Species : Nymphaea alba L.
synonym
Castalia alba (L.) Greene
Castalia biradiata Hayek.
Castalia odorata Greene
Castalia semi-aperta Fritsch
Castalia speciosa Salisb.
Leuconymphaea alba (L.) Kuntze
Nymphaea alba f. csepelensis Soó
Nymphaea alba var. melocarpa Casp
Nymphaea alba subsp. minoriflora (Borbás) Stucchi
Nymphaea alba var. occidentalis Ostenf.
Nymphaea alba var. rubra Lönnr.
Nymphaea bashiniana Steud.
Nymphaea biradiata Somm.
Nymphaea erythrocarpa Hentze
Nymphaea exumbonata Rupr.
Nymphaea intermedia Weiker ex Reichb.
Nymphaea kosteletzkyi Paillard ex Lehm.
Nymphaea melocarpa Aschers. & Graebn.
Nymphaea milletii Bor.
Nymphaea minoriflora (Simonk.) O. D. Wissjul.
Nymphaea neglecta Hausleutner
Nymphaea occidentalis Moss
Nymphaea officinalis Gater.
Nymphaea parviflora Hentze
Nymphaea permixta Bor.
Nymphaea polystigma E. H. L. Krause
Nymphaea rotundifolia Hentze
Nymphaea semiaperta Klinggraeff
Nymphaea sphaerocarpa Hort.
Nymphaea splendens Hentze
Nymphaea suaveolens Dum.
Nymphaea urceolata Hentze
Nymphaea venusta Hentze