Species
+

Nymphaea lotus L.

Egyptian Lily, Egyptian Water Lily, Egyptian lotus, Egyptian water-lily

Climate known 57 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Nymphaea lotus, the white Egyptian lotus, tiger lotus, white lotus, or Egyptian water-lily, is a flowering plant of the family Nymphaeaceae.

Text from Wikipedia, “Nymphaea lotus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Nymphaea

Nymphaea is a genus of hardy and tender aquatic plants in the family Nymphaeaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution. Many species are cultivated as ornamental plants, and many cultivars have been bred. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Nymphaea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Nymphaeaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Egypt, Benin, Burkina +38
Wild records
1074 in range· 636 open

At a glance

Warmest month
32°C
Feb, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
741mm/yr
10 wet months · peak Jul 111 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–39DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, March and May to September at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.7 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 741 mm a year, wettest July at 111 mm, driest January at 12 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 13.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Castalia edulis Salisb.; Castalia lotus (L.) Tratt.; Castalia lotus (L.) Wood; Castalia mystica Salisb.; Castalia pubescens Blume and 33 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, March and May to September at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.7 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (530 mm of 741 mm) falls in March and May to September. The temperature curve is flat, 2.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 741 mm a year, wettest July at 111 mm, driest January at 12 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

741 mm a year at the habitat, 530 mm of it March and May to September. Wettest month July at 111 mm, driest January at 12 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 417 mm to 1853 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 13.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 13.1 °C, the absolute minimum 10.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 43.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 20.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells 16.1 °C to 24.0 °C), warmest day 31.5 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 28 °C in Jul to 32 °C in Feb; mean night from 20 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Apr. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 741 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 793 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 10.4 °C and the 99th-percentile day 43.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°50°43.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)10.4° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 30–39RH 55–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 793 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C31 / 28–3432 / 28–3631 / 28–3931 / 27–4030 / 25–4029 / 23–3728 / 23–3428 / 24–3229 / 26–3430 / 26–3731 / 27–3631 / 28–34
Night °C20 / 16–2421 / 18–2523 / 19–2524 / 17–2623 / 14–2723 / 11–2622 / 10–2522 / 13–2422 / 16–2522 / 18–2421 / 18–2420 / 17–24
Rain mm12 / 0–15930 / 0–14867 / 0–16545 / 1–18166 / 2–22079 / 2–267111 / 1–221103 / 2–276104 / 6–25063 / 14–22945 / 0–14916 / 0–159
DLI37 / 33–4039 / 34–4238 / 32–4537 / 29–4633 / 26–4530 / 23–4330 / 23–3930 / 24–3833 / 27–4236 / 29–4336 / 30–4336 / 30–41
RH %57 / 34–6657 / 31–6657 / 32–6757 / 37–6858 / 45–6959 / 47–6962 / 49–6964 / 47–7064 / 46–7060 / 43–6955 / 37–6956 / 35–67

Each figure is the median across the 793 grid cells holding the 1047 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1562:3667 (11.875, 3.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 43.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 793 distinct grid cells holding the 1047 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1562:3667 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 12.00_3.125, lapse-corrected -49 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 163 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeEgypt, Benin, Burkina, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Chad, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Madagascar· introduced: Romania, Mauritius, Seychelles, Society Is., Florida, Louisiana, Costa Rica, Panama, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North
Kew's description“tuberous hydrogeophyte” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker6.587, 2.405 · in the densest population, 350 records (33% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1074 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 636 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 199 km away. 295 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 27 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1074 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Nymphaea lotusNymphaea lotusNymphaea lotusNymphaea lotusNymphaea lotusNymphaea lotusNymphaea lotusNymphaea lotus

Photographs: (c) Jay Horn, some rights reserved (CC BY) (8).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Nymphaea lotus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Total Phenolics Concentration and Antioxidant Potential of Extracts of Medicinal Plants of Pakistan
Ammar Saleem, Markku Ahotupa, Kalevi Pihlaja (2001) · Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C
Antimicrobial activity of some plant extracts having hepatoprotective effects
Ammara Hassan, Salma Rahman, Farah Deeba, Shahid Mahmud (2009) · Journal of Medicinal Plants Research
Two very unusual macrocyclic flavonoids from the water lily Nymphaea lotus
Awatif A. Elegami, Catharine D. Bates, Alexander I. Gray, Simon P. Mackay (2003) · Phytochemistry
Water lilies and scarabs: faithful partners for 100 million years?
Finn Ervik, Jette T. Knudsen (2003) · Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
Carbohydrate-rich foods: glycaemic indices and the effect of constituent macronutrients
Rahal Widanagamage, Sagarika Ekanayake, Jayantha Welihinda (2009) · International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition
Ethanolic extract of Nymphaea lotus L. (Nymphaeaceae) leaves exhibits in vitro antioxidant, in vivo anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activities on Jurkat and MCF-7 cancer cell lines
Benoit Banga N’guessan, Adwoa Dede Asiamah, Nana Kwame Arthur, Samuel Frimpong–Manso (2021) · BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
The effect of methanol rhizome extract of Nymphaea lotus Linn. (Nymphaeaceae) in animal models of diarrhoea
Fatima Bello, Bilkisu Bello Maiha, Joseph A. Anuka (2016) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Antimicrobial potential of Nymphaea lotus (Nymphaeaceae) against wound pathogens
Olajide Joseph Akinjogunla, Anthony A. Adegoke, I. P. Udokang, BC Adebayo-Tayo (2009) · Journal of Medicinal Plants Research

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Nymphaea 7 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 111 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.