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tropical or hardy waterlily?
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Posted by
chubbypoptart none (
shelbysheeneart@yahoo.com) on
Wed, Apr 27, 11 at 10:15
| I bought a waterlily from a woman on craigslist for 5 dollars it was a small plant it had about 4 or 5 floating leaves a couple of inches across. the leaves are green oval with little cutout shapes on the end closest to the stem. other than that they are smooth. the roots didnt have a horizontal tuber the roots just came straight down but underneath the roots there was a little bunch of banana shaped roots. when she pulled it out of the water it had what looked like a runner/offshoot with roots on the end which she puled off. she said the flower was yellow. I know its hard without a picture but its already planted and I pulled all the unhealthy or broken stems off already. from the description what do you think. hardy or tropical? Thanks |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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Hmmm.....its hard to say. What zone are you in? I would guess that tropicals don't overwinter in many of the lower zones. I'm in zone 5 and they'd never overwinter here.....maybe not even in 6. I'm just not sure. But from your description, I would guess tropical. Do you have a picture?
You say it has "little cutout shapes" on the leaves. Do you mean it has that indentation that all water lilies have?
Was it in her own watergarden?
Sorry.....I'm not much help! haha |
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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| lol sorry for vague details. i believe i am in zone 9 just above the 10 line. my guess is tropical to but I'm nowhere close to being an expert lol. yes i guess the cutouts are the pretty common lily leaf shape. i thought some were completely round tho. It was in a container pond with other plants such as duckweed, reeds, papyrus etc. in complete shade! I needed to save the little guy haha. heres a pic of one of the pads but i didnt think to get a root pic before i planted it.  the leaves are tattered but you get the basic shape and color
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RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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Here's a website I found that might be helpful.
After seeing your pads, I'm thinking hardy. I think alot of the tropical pads are scalloped around the edges. (but I don't know that much! haha). All of mine have been scalloped around the edges, but I've only had a few. |
Here is a link that might be useful: hardy versus tropical water lilies
reply to catherinet tropical or hardy waterlily?
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| thankyou. thats actually the site that confused me to begin with haha. the pads look hardy. root system looks tropical. lol. is there hardy waterlilies without the horizontal tuber? and which one sends off runners to make more plants? cause thats what i had. |
More info to confuse you......
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Well, speaking as a person who doesn't know much............haha
I've had tropicals that grew babies on top of the leaves. I think the term is viviparous.
I don't believe I ever had tropicals that sent out runners........but then again, I would only have them for 1 summer, so that may not have been enough time to grow runners. come to think of it.........my hardy ones never sent out runners either. They would just add more tubers to the container.
Does spatterdock grow in your area? Sometimes that looks like waterlilies too.
Well, now that I've completely confused you..........
:)
My memory is so bad, I can't even remember what my hardy lilies looked like when I would buy them online. (I've become pretty stupid in my older age!). Just start fertilizing yours and maybe when they start putting out flowers, you'll have a better idea. I think tropicals tend to be held up out of the water more than hardies.
Sorry I can't help you more! Surely someone smarter will come along soon. |
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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| lol well you've been more helpful than anyone else i would venture to say. haha hmm i will have to look at the other plant and see what i think if i end up with that instead of a lily oh well whats 5 bucks haha |
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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| okay spatterdock i think is a no since it pruduces by spongy rhizomes. there were two lily or lily like plants that i found with yellow flowers with the same shape leaf and produces by runners. the Nymphaea mexicana and the nymphoides peltata. im thinking its the first but we will have to get flowers to be sure |
nymphaea mexicana waterlily?
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| sorry one more lol this is speaking about the nymphaea mexicana The plants have yellow flowers, spread asexually by stolons (horizontal shoots), forming numerous clones. During the winter, the dormant plants have clusters of fleshy, tuberous, banana-shaped roots. 3 hits to match so far. correct flower color, spread by runners, and have banana bunch roots. |
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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| I don't know for sure what it is...but it is not a tropical. (I don't think. LOL) In what little experience I have with tropicals, their leaves are thinner and more pliable (softer) than the leaves on a hardy. |
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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LOL........we've got the blind leading the blind here. hahaha
About the Mexicana......the images I'm seeing give it a ruffled edge on the pads. Maybe young leaves aren't ruffled yet?
Also, it says its a noxious weed in CA. So the woman you bought it from didn't know what it was? |
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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| lol i couldnt have said it better myself. i did see that they were ruffled in some pics but others they were completely flat. (no offense at all) but the woman i bought it from was Vietnamese and spoke broken English all she could tell me was "yellow water lily" lol. plants were her hobby so she was no expert either. |
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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I noticed that too......that some of the pics showed unruffled pad edges.
So she harvested it while you were there? Well, I guess this will be the "mystery water plant" for awhile. That can be fun! |
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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| When the lily blooms, if the blossoms stand well above the water on a stiff stem, it will probably be a tropical. If the blossom rests on the water, it will be a hardy. I've seen a few hardies with blossoms standing above the water, but the tropicals really stand up. It's hard to tell from the pads. My Blue Beauty (tropical) has pads that look very much like that. |
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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| It is a Hardy waterlily of which many are yellow..... |
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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| The person you bought it from could have bought it from lowes or home depot, because water lilies from those stores are mostly hardy but look like tropicals |
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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| The water lily that you have is either a N. mexicana or a cross of that lily. It does have the bananas and it will send out runners. It is a hardy. It should have pale yellow flowers if it is N. mexicana. |
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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| pondmaninal that's exactly the kind I've settled on. guess we won't know for sure till it flowers but that's the closest match i could find. thanks! |
RE: tropical or hardy waterlily?
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| No problem. I just happen to have it and have experienced the runner but not the bananas. I also have a Banana Lily like you use to find in aquarium shops. It produces pads but they look totally different and it blooms from the stem below the pad. |
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