Israel wildflowers: Yellow Pond-lily

Nuphar lutea, Yellow Pond-lily,
Hebrew: נופר צהוב , Arabic: نينوفر أصفر


Scientific name:		Nuphar lutea (L.) Sm.
Synonym name:		Nymphaea lutea L., Nymphosanthus luteus (L.) Fernald
Common name:		Yellow Pond-lily
Hebrew name:		נופר צהוב
Arabic name:		نينوفر أصفر , ninufar ‘asfar
Family:		Nymphaeaceae, נופריים

_{Location: Hula Nature Reserve}


Life form:		Geophyte
Stems:		15 to 60 cm in height and spreads 1 to 2 m on the water surface; long, stout stems
Leaves:		Rosette, floating leaves 19-40×9-30cm, ovate, with a deep, acute basal sinus
Inflorescence:		Flowers emerge on separate stem stalks; solitary, hermaphrodite
Flowers:		Yellow flowers borne above the water; yellow sepals, yellow petals 3 times shorter than the petals; 15-20 stigma-rays; ovary superior
Fruits / pods:		Dry berry; seeds 5mm
Flowering Period:		May, June, July
Habitat:		Humid habitats
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:		Euro-Siberian – Med – Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:		Perennating

_{Location: Yarkon National Park, Water Lily Pool}
Derivation of the botanical name:

Nuphar, Arabic (Persian) ninufar, pond-lily; Greek nympharion, a diminutive of nymphe; In botanical Latin, Nuphar derived from ‘tό nuphar’ (το νουφαρ), the Greek neuter noun for pond-lily, a plant used in medicine and known under that name to Aristotle and Dioscorides. When James Edward Smith validated the name Nuphar for a segregate from Nymphaea, he neglegted shifting the epiphet of feminine Nymphaea lutea to neuter Nuphar luteum, and wrote Nuphar lutea.

lutea, golden, saffron, orange-yellow.
Nymphaea, from the Greek term “Νυμφαία”, possibly related to “Νύμφη” meaning “nymph”. The nymphs in Greek and Roman mythology were supernatural feminine, attractive and playful water nymphs of the same habitat.
The Hebrew name: נופר, Nuphar, transliteration from the scientific name.

The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
The standard author abbreviation Sm. is used to indicate James Edward Smith (1759 – 1828), an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society.
The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.

H.B. Tristram, The Natural History of the Bible (1867): “The White Lily (Nymphaea alba), and the Yellow Water Lily (Nuphar lutea), are both abundant in the marshes of the Upper Jordan, but have no connection with the Lily of the Scripture”.

_{Location: Yarkon National Park, Water Lily Pool}