American white waterlily (Nymphaea odorata)
seen from Sweden
seen from New Zealand

seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from Sweden
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Yemen

seen from United States
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seen from United Kingdom
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seen from Türkiye
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seen from United States
American white waterlily (Nymphaea odorata)
How about Aurore Beauréal (Miraculous Ladybug)?
Name: Aurore Beaureal/Seasoar
Series: Miraculous Ladybug
Gender: Female
Status: Alive
Family: The Beaureal Family
Flower Motif: White Water Lily (Nymphaea Odorata)
Flower Meaning: Perseverance
Weapon of Choice: Anchor (On end of Rope)
Associated With: Interdimensional Hero Club (Ally)
Stationed At Which Cafe: Paris, France
Hero Form Appearance: When Aurore utters the phrase, “Skyee, Set Sail!” (The off phrase would be “Skyee, Drop Anchor!”), she gains a mask that appears to be like all of the other Miraculous users, albeit pure white. She gains a pair of kawaii wing hair accessories, and her outfit consists of an albatross themed superhero outfit with gray sleeves and a tailcoat designed to look like the bird’s wings and tail. And in the AU, it’s literally her Seasoar outfit but with water lily patterns on the white parts. Don’t fix what ain’t broke!
Full Bloom Gauge Location: Back Below Neck
Guardian: Skyee (Her Kwami)
Favorite Food: Bread Rolls
Parallel To: None
Bio: Aurore Beauréal is a student in Ms. Mendeleiev's class at Collège Françoise Dupont and a final contestant for KIDZ+ to become the weather forecaster. With her albatross Pendant, when inhabited by Skyee, she gains the power of Voyages and becomes Seasoar, an Albatross-themed superhero who helps Ladybug and Cat Noir in case of emergencies.
My adventures wild harvesting American white water lilies (nymphaea odorata) this summer for medicine and magic. Nymphaea odorata is native to North America and our local counterpart to blue lotus (aka blue water lily). It is used in Native American medicine to treat coughs, colds, and swelling. Prehistoric Native Americans associated them with purification, the underworld, and the moon.
You can dry and smoke the flowers or make medicinal syrups, tinctures, oils, and ointments with the roots and flowers. Water lilies are not a strong psychoactive. They need to be prepared similarly to lactucarium to make a concentrated extract like the blue lotus resins sold in head shops. That’s not what Bane Folk is about though (plus payment processors ban head shops). I focus on the medicinal uses of poisonous plants with special attention to ones that help with pain, sleep, anxiety, and depression. Water lilies fit that description perfectly.
Water lilies are sedative, hypnotic, anti-inflammatory (especially of mucous membranes and internal tissue), mildly pain relieving, anti anxiety, antibacterial, astringent, and demulcent.
Visit the apothecary to see my offerings of water lily medicines: banefolk.com
Nymphaea odorata VS Carlo Scarpa and Arrigo Rudi, Banca Popolare di Verona, Verona, Italy, 1973-1981 © Jonathan Frantini
On Golden Pond by jan buchholtz Via Flickr: A blurring of seasons as autumn gold reigns while summer refuses to die. Sheldon Lake State Park.Near Houston, Texas.
Highland park waterlilies
This place looks way different from when I first started coming in October.
A Common Plant With An Odd Pollination Mechanism
Pollination is not an altruistic enterprise. Each party involved is trying to maximize its gains while minimizing its losses. Needless to say, cheaters abound in natural systems. As such, plants have gone to great lengths to ensure that their reproductive investments pay off in the long run. Take, for instance, the case of the fragrant water-lily (Nymphaea odorata).
Most of us have encountered this species at some point in our lives. Those who have often remark on the splendor of their floral displays. Certainly this is not lost on pollinators either. Coupled with their aromatic scent, these aquatic plants must surely be a boon to any insect looking for pollen and nectar. Still, the flowers of the fragrant water-lily take no chances.
Close observation will reveal an interesting pattern in the blooming cycle of this water-lily. On the first day that the flowers open, only the female portions are mature. The structure itself is bowl-like in shape. Filling this stigmatic bowl is a viscous liquid. After the first day, the flowers close for the evening and reopen to reveal that the stigma is no longer receptive and instead, the anthers have matured.
Many insects will visit these floating flowers throughout the blooming period. Everything from flies, to beetles, and various sorts of bees have been recorded. Seed set in this species is pollen limited so any insect visiting a female flower must deposit pollen if reproduction is to be achieved. This is where that bowl of sticky liquid comes into play. The liquid itself is rather unassuming until you see an insect fall in.
Due to the presence of surfactants, any insect that falls into the fluid immediately sinks to the bottom. The flowers seem primed to encourage this to happen too. The flexible inner stamens that surround the bowl bend under the weight of heavier insects, thus dumping them into the liquid below. Only by observing this process under extreme magnification does all of this make sense.
The liquid within the bowl essentially washes off any pollen that a visiting insect had stuck to its body. As the pollen falls off, it drifts down to the bottom of the bowl where it contacts the receptive stigma. Thus, cross-pollination is achieved. Most of the time, insect visitors are able to crawl out without any issue. However, the occasional insect will drown within the fluid. Alas, that is no sweat off the water-lily's back. Having dropped off the pollen it was carrying, it is of little use to that flower anymore.
Once a water-lily flower has been fertilized, its stem begins to curl up like a spring. This draws the ovaries underwater where they can develop in relative safety. It also ensures that, upon maturing, the seeds are more likely to find a suitable underwater site for germination. To think that this drama plays out time and time again unbeknownst to the casual observer is something I find endlessly fascinating about the natural world.
Photo Credit: [1] [2]
Further Reading: [1] [2]