Herbarium JCB

Nymphaea pubescens Willd.

Family : NYMPHAEACEAE
(Water-Lily Family)
Family (Hindi name) : NEELKAMAL FAMILY (नीलकमल फैमिली)
Family (as per The APG System III) : NYMPHAEACEAE
Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Nymphaea pubescens Willd.
Common name : White Lotus, Night Lotus, Indian Water-lily, Hairy waterlily
Vernacular name : Kanval, Koka, Koi, Sandaka (Hindi); Kannaidile (Kannada); Kaluva, Neeti-kamalam, Alli tamara, Tella kaluva (Telugu); Dhalakain, Rangakain, Nilakain, Padma (Oria); Kumuda (Sanskrit); Kamal (Malayalam); Kamal (Marathi); Ambal, Neerambal, Periambal (Malayalam)
Habit : Herb (Aquatic)
Habitat : Water bodies
Comments / notes : Mostly grow in stagnant water beds or ponds. It is a night flowering species, very fragrant. Rhizomes with roots are used as vegetables and in native medicine. Flowers open only in the morning
Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
Distribution :
- Andhra Pradesh : Vizianagaram district, East Godavari district, Vishakapatnam district
- Karnataka : Bengaluru district, Ballari district, Davanagare district, Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) district, Hassan district, Shivamogga district, Tumakuru district, Udupi district, Dakshina Kannada district
- Kerala : Kannur district, Wayanad district, Kozhikode district, Malappuram district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Ernakulam district, Alappuzha district, Kollam district
- Odisha : All districts of Odisha
- Tamil Nadu : All districts of Tamil Nadu
Native : Tropical Asia
World Distribution : Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos
Conservation Status : Least Concern (LC)
Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2002 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 1; J.L.Ellis, 1987- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 1; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1; H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa; IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. ; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1; Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 – Flora of Hassan district, Karnataka; Cecil J. Saldanha, S. R. Ramesh (1984). Flora of Karnatka State vol. 1. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co, New Delhi; Seetharam et al., 2000 - Gulbarga; Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 - Flora of Coorg district, Karnataka state; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 – Udupi; Manjunath et al., 2003 - Davanagere; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara.
Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Nymphaea pubescens. Downloaded on 3 April 2025.