Submerged Lily Flower

[Shadow_Arbor]

Haven't been active on here in a while. I've moved and I'm now setting my tanks up in a new flat. Got a surprise before moving, my Nymphaea minuta flowered!

In super high tech conditions this plant develops flowers that flower underwater! Super high tech in this instance is a bit more than 30ppm co2, daily EI dosing, Remineralized ro water (GH 6 KH 3), and very intense light. This is a short tank, 26 cm high with a Chihiros WRGB2 30cm. This means that this super powerful light is about 20cm from the substrate.

 

Please pretend the algae isn't there 😉 I've neglected this tank a but preparing to move...

[Zenzo]

That's beautiful. 

[OnlyGenusCaps]

That's super interesting!  The original botanical description states that there are submerged cleistogamous flowers (those that self but don't open), but didn't state that they had opening flowers submerged.  I'll bet if you document this well you could write that finding up in a horticultural journal!  If you are interested and curious about the process, please feel free to DM me.  It's very cool you are seeing that on an uncommonly grown species (one I'd like to find some day).  FYI, I believe the species has been subsumed into Nymphaea dimorpha currently.  Thanks for sharing your observations!

[Torrey]

On 10/5/2021 at 12:21 PM, Shadow_Arbor said:

Haven't been active on here in a while. I've moved and I'm now setting my tanks up in a new flat. Got a surprise before moving, my Nymphaea minuta flowered!

In super high tech conditions this plant develops flowers that flower underwater! Super high tech in this instance is a bit more than 30ppm co2, daily EI dosing, Remineralized ro water (GH 6 KH 3), and very intense light. This is a short tank, 26 cm high with a Chihiros WRGB2 30cm. This means that this super powerful light is about 20cm from the substrate.

 

Please pretend the algae isn't there 😉 I've neglected this tank a but preparing to move...

That is absolutely beautiful!!!!

Would love to see you get published in a horticultural journal!

[Shadow_Arbor]

On 10/6/2021 at 4:27 PM, OnlyGenusCaps said:

That's super interesting!  The original botanical description states that there are submerged cleistogamous flowers (those that self but don't open), but didn't state that they had opening flowers submerged.  I'll bet if you document this well you could write that finding up in a horticultural journal!  If you are interested and curious about the process, please feel free to DM me.  It's very cool you are seeing that on an uncommonly grown species (one I'd like to find some day).  FYI, I believe the species has been subsumed into Nymphaea dimorpha currently.  Thanks for sharing your observations!

Sorry for taking forever to answer. I've settled into my new flat and my first year at Uni. Just googled the scientific name and it would seem that you’re correct. I will send you a message about how to properly document  this and how to get it submitted  in a journal.

If you're ever in Israel I would be glad to give you a plant. A friend of mine observed flowers that flowered underwater occasionally produce a seed (or bulb) that will develop into a new plant. I haven't observed this myself, but I'm keeping my eye open for this.