Nymphaea belophylla

Nymphaea belophylla
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Order:	Nymphaeales
Family:	Nymphaeaceae
Genus:	Nymphaea
Subgenus:	Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis
Species:	N. belophylla
Binomial name
Nymphaea belophylla Trickett[1]

Nymphaea belophylla is a species of waterlily native to Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela.[1]

Description

Vegetative characteristics

Nymphaea belophylla is an aquatic herb.[2] It has subglobose tubers, which are not stoloniferous.[3] The green, elliptic-sagittate leaves with an acute apex are up to 30 cm long and 11 cm wide.[4] The 4-5 mm wide, non-brittle, green petiole is glabrous.[3]

Generative characteristics

The flowers of Nymphaea belophylla are floating and nocturnal.[2] The glabrous, green, non-brittle peduncle[3] is up to 5 mm wide.[4] In the original publication, the flowers are describes as inodorous.[3][4][5] In others, the floral fragrance described as sweet and fruity,[6] or as unpleasant and almond-like.[4] The smooth, pilose, ellipsoid seeds exhibit trichomes arranged in continuous longitudinal lines.[2] The seeds are 0.9 mm wide and 0.75 mm wide. The trichomes are 35-90 μm long.[4]

Cytology

The chromosome count is not known.[4]

Reproduction

Vegetative reproduction

Stolons and proliferating pseudanthia are absent.[2][3]

Habitat

In one instance, it has been found growing in flooded grassland savanna at water depths of 110 cm beneath Tabebuia aurea trees.[7] In another case, it was observed growing in floodplains at water depths of 1.5-2m among the grass species Oryza rufipogon and Paspalum wrightii.[6] In the Pantanal, where it can occur sympatrically with Nymphaea oxypetala,[3] it is found in floodplains and rivers.[8]

Taxonomy

It was first described by Trickett in 1971 based on plant material cultivated at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The plants had been introduced to cultivation by Amanda Bleher from a specimen collected in Guaporé River, Brazil.[3][5][9]

Type specimen

The type locality is the Río Guaporé. It seemed that the type material had gone missing,[10][6] however the holotype was later found again. The isotype could still not be located.[3]

Placement within Nymphaea

It is placed in Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis.[7][4]

Etymology

The species name is derived from the Greek βέλος meaning arrow or dart,[5] and -phylla referring to the leaves. It references the strongly pointed, arrow-shaped leaves.

References

1. "Nymphaea belophylla Trickett". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
2. Pellegrini, M. O. O. & Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. (n.d.-a). Nymphaea belophylla Trickett. Flora E Funga Do Brasil. Retrieved December 3, 2023, from https://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/FB139872
3. de Lima, C. T., Machado, I. C., & Giulietti, A. M. (2021). "Nymphaeaceae of Brasil." Sitientibus série Ciências Biológicas, 21.
4. Wiersema, J. H. (1987). A monograph of Nymphaea subgenus Hydrocallis (Nymphaeaceae). Systematic Botany Monographs, 1-112.
5. Robert S. Trickett. (1971). A New Tropical American Waterlily, Nymphaea belophylla. Kew Bulletin, 26(1), 29–31. https://doi.org/10.2307/4117321
6. Ritter, N. P., Crow, G. E., & Wiersema, J. H. (2001). "Nymphaea (Nymphaeaceae) in Bolivia: notes on several species, three new country records, and a key to species." Rhodora, 103(915), 326-331.
7. de Andrade Amador, G., Damasceno-Júnior, G. A., da Silva, R. H., Pott, A., & Pott, V. J. (2013). "Nymphaeaceae, Nymphaea belophylla Trickett: new state record." Check List, 9(2), 440-442.
8. Damasceno-Junior, G. A., & Pott, A. (2022). "Flora and vegetation of the Pantanal Wetland." p. 241. Springer Nature.
9. Nymphaea belophylla | International Plant Names Index. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2023, from https://www.ipni.org/n/171170-2
10. WIERSEMA, J. H. (1984). "A new species of Nymphaea (Nymphaeaceae) from the Amazon Basin." SIDA, Contributions to Botany, 195-198.