Fragrant water lily

Nymphaea odorata · Aquatic plants

Flowers or seeds · Photo: Erik Schiff / CC0

InvasiveFloating-leaf

Also called White water lily, American white water lily, Lily pads, Water lily, Hardy water lily

How to identify Fragrant water lily

Round floating leaves up to 10 inches wide with a narrow slit to the center
Leaf lobes pointed at the slit; undersides often purple
Showy fragrant white or pink flowers with many petals that open in the morning
Long leaf stalks with air channels rising from thick rhizomes

Similar plants

Yellow pond lily has heart shaped leaves with rounded lobes and yellow cup flowers, and watershield leaves are small, oval and stalked at the center.

Growth profile

Growing season	Leaves rise from the rhizome in late spring, the canopy is fullest from July to September, flowers bloom all summer, and leaves die back after frost while rhizomes overwinter in the mud.
Starts growing	About 50 to 55 F water; flowers once water passes about 70 F
Light	Needs full sun
Depth	1 to 6 feet
How it spreads	Rhizome growth and fragments; seeds
Habitat	Ponds, sloughs and shallow lake margins over soft nutrient rich mud; often planted as an ornamental and escaped.

Why it matters in a lake

Forms dense pads that can close over shallow coves and ponds, cutting oxygen and blocking swimming, boating and fishing. Broken rhizome pieces start new plants, and many ornamental hybrids with red or yellow flowers also escape from water gardens.