Blue Waterlily, Tilipuk, Teratai Kecil

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Description

Aquatic plant with horizontal perennial rhizomes anchor to mud in the bottom. Leaves floating above water, orbicular 13-24 cm across; leaves can also be fully aquatic. Flowers 8-12 cm diameter when fully open, day blooming, violet blue to purple with bluish tinge. Fruits a berry, globose to ovoid, 8-25 mm across.

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Ecology

Lowlands; in pools, ditches and lake margins with shallow, stagnant or slow flowing water. Day-blooming flowers, slightly scented expanding in the morning and closing in the night, attracts Trigona bees in the morning, suggesting bee pollination.

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Distribution

Africa, Asia to Australia.

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Uses

Cultivated as an ornamental, sometimes in tubs. Flower stalk sometimes eaten as a vegetable. In Sri Lanka the rhizomes are cultivated for starch. It is also the national flower of Sri Lanka.