Friday, June 10, 2011

Lotus or Water Lily?

Saw this at a fish pond at the Birmingham Zoo yesterday.  I admit, until I just looked it up on Wiki-pedia, I thought a water lily was a lotus flower, but the wiki author seemed almost insulted that the two would be confused.  I still don't know which this is, but it's pretty neat looking.

4 comments:

ShEiLa said...

What a gorgeous shot! I have never seen a lotus or water lily that I know of so I can't even give an opinion.

ToOdLeS.

Cameron said...

If I can believe Wikipedia, it is the water lily, not the lotus, but the flower doesn't give it away, the leaves do.

"The leaves of Nelumbo can be distinguished from those of genera in the Nymphaeaceae as they are peltate, that is they have fully circular leaves. Nymphaea, on the other hand, has a single characteristic notch from the edge in to the center of the lily pad."

Nelumbo = the lotus version
Nymphaea = water lily

I'm seeing notches in your leaves to the center of the pad, so I'm going to go with water lily instead of lotus blossom.

Nice pic :)

Eeyore said...

Yep Cameron, I believe you are right. Thanks.

Rob said...

Lovely image, either way, lotus or lily, beautiful