Nymphaea odorata Aiton

Rhizome with or without knotty tubers; lf-blades 1-3 dm wide, rotund, with a narrow sinus, often purple or red beneath; fls ± fragrant, open from early morning to noon or midafternoon, mostly 7-20 cm wide; sep 3-10 cm, the receptacle circular at the level of their insertion; pet 17-25, about equaling the sep, white or rarely pink, narrowly elliptic-oblong to spatulate, tapering to a subacute or rounded tip; stamens mostly 40-100; stigmatic lines 10-25; sep closely inflexed over the top of the fr; seeds 2-4 mm; 2n=56, 84. Quiet waters; Nf. to Man., n. Minn., and n. Mich., s. on or near the coastal plain to Fla. and Tex. Summer. Var. odorata, with nearly the range of the species, has flat lvs, and the sep are seldom over 7 cm. (N. tuberosa; C. minor is the small-flowered extreme) Var. gigantea Tricker, restricted to the coastal plain from Del. to Fla. and Tex., has the lf-margin upturned, and the fls average larger, the sep to 10 cm. (C. lekophylla)N. alba L., a related European sp., is casually intr. in N. Engl. It has the petioles crowded on the rhizome, the blades deep purple beneath, the fls open nearly all day, and the pet rounded above.

Acidic or alkaline ponds, lakes, sluggish streams and rivers, pools in marshes, ditches, canals, or sloughs from sea level to 1700 metres.

The flower buds are pickled or eaten as a cooked vegetable. The flowers are eaten raw. The leaves are used in soups and stews. The tubers are eaten. The seeds are eaten raw, boiled, roasted or ground into flour.

Plants can be grown from seed or by underground stems.