American White Waterlily
Nymphaea odorata
Also known as: Fragrant Waterlily
The classic native waterlily — round floating pads and many-petaled white flowers with a golden center that open on calm summer mornings with a sweet fragrance. Roots in pond muck and spreads by rhizome; the pads shade and cool the water for fish and frogs. Flower buds, young flowers, leaves, and roots have all been used as food, cooked or pickled — an unusually versatile wild edible for a pond plant.
- Family
- Nymphaeaceae
- Type
- wildflower
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 0.2–0.6 ft
- Spacing
- 3–6 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- wet
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October
- Bloom colors
- white
- Wildlife value
- pollinators
- Landscape uses
- rain garden, naturalizing
- Native states
- AK, AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI