Golden, bowl-shaped flowers hover just above still water and smell of old wine dregs, hence the nickname 'brandy bottle'
Yellow water-lily, Nuphar lutea.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Yellow water-lily
Native · flowers Jun–Sep · ponds, lakes, canals and slow rivers
Nuphar lutea — Nymphaeaceae
The yellow water-lily has cupped golden flowers held just above the surface of still and slow-moving water, and big oval leaves that float or stand up out of the water. Its flowers smell faintly of alcohol, giving it the country name 'brandy bottle'. It shares its water and its family with the white water-lily but is the hardier of the two in shade and flow.
How to spot them
- ▸Rounded, bowl-shaped golden flowers held just above the water on stiff stalks
- ▸Oval leaves up to 40 cm long with a shallow cleft, floating or standing above the surface; thin, ruffled leaves stay submerged
- ▸Five large yellow sepals form the 'petals'; the true petals are small and hidden inside
- ▸Rooted in mud in ponds, lakes, canals and slow rivers, and tolerates shade and some flow
- ▸Look-alike: white water-lily has floating, many-petalled white flowers and rounder leaves cut by a deep slit
How to know it
Eighteenth-century collectors known as 'lily-scrumpers' harvested this pond plant for ornamental use
Yellow water-lily, according to the Wildlife Trusts.
The 'petals' of this floating-leaved plant are in fact five yellow sepals; the true petals are tiny and hidden inside
Yellow water-lily.
Oval leaves up to 40 cm long float or stand up out of the water, while thin, ruffled, translucent leaves stay below
Yellow water-lily.
A rooted aquatic with cupped yellow flowers, the tougher of two native lilies, tolerating shade and some current
Yellow water-lily, the counterpart of the white water-lily.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Nymphaeaceae, like the white water-lily; the Latin epithet lutea means yellow
- •Wildlife Trusts: flowers June to September, leaves up to 40 cm long
- •Country names include brandy bottle, from the alcoholic smell of the flowers
- •Historical collectors, called 'lily-scrumpers' in the Wildlife Trusts' account, gathered it for ornament in the 18th century
- •The five yellow 'petals' are really sepals; the true petals are small structures inside them
- •Provides shelter for frogs and early nectar for insects; water-lily beetles and the larvae of china-mark moths graze the pads
- •Native, and often shares ponds and slow rivers with the white water-lily
- •The genus name Nuphar comes from an old Arabic-Persian word for water-lily
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Yellow water-lily