looduskalender.ee

Yellow water-lilies often grow and flower together with the white water-lilies in Estonia. Their preferred water depth is about the same but as the waters get deeper the last ones growing are usually the yellow water-lilies. The floating leaves seem at a first glance to be quite similar. But why are the leaves of the yellow water-lily often more attractive and less damaged than those of the white water-lilies? To insects the leaves of the white water-lilies “taste” better. So how to distinguish such similar leaves? The underside of the white water-lily’s leaves is whitish-green or violet-tinged, that of the yellow water-lily is yellowish-green.

 

The yellow water-lily is not a protected species in Estonia, and gardeners usually succeed in planting them in ponds in their home gardens from a piece of the rhizome.