Nymphaeiids (Waterlillies, Fanworts & watershield)

The Nymphaids consisting or 88 species (Christenhusz & Byng 2016) are the second earliest-diverging clade of existing angiosperms and are only distantly related to other flowering plants. Despite being an ancient lineage, they have a number of derived features as a result of their specialized adaptations to aquatic environments. The waterlillies (Nymphaeaceae) have showy flowers and circular floating leaves while the Cabombaceae have floating or submersed leaves and relatively small flowers. The unrelated lotus (Nelumbo); may be confused with waterlillies, but some of its very large circular, peltate leaves stand up out of the water. To browse, select the desired family (Cabombaceae or Nymphaeaceae) in the menu on the left