Nuphar advena

Nuphar advena is a species of Nuphar native throughout the eastern United States and in some parts of Canada, as well as Mexico and Cuba. It is locally naturalized in Britain.

Description

Nuphar advena is a perennial, aquatic herb with spongy rhizomes that are wide. The leaves are mostly emergent, but can also be floating, or submersed. The submerged leaves are long and wide.
The flowers are protogynous, fragrant, nectariferous, solitary, yellow-green, and up to 4 cm wide. They float on the water surface or extend beyond it. The flowers have six sepals while the gynoecium consists of 9–23 carpels. The fruit is fleshy, ovoid to broadly obovate, ribbed, green, and 2–5 cm long and wide. It contains 186–353 seeds, which are 3–6 mm long.

Cytology

The chromosome count is 2n = 34. The chloroplast genome is 160866 bp long.

Taxonomy

It was first published as Nymphaea advena by William Aiton in 1789. It was placed into the genus Nuphar as Nuphar advena published by William Townsend Aiton in 1811. It is placed in the section Nuphar sect. Astylus.

Natural hybridisation

In the United Kingdom, it has hybridised with Nuphar lutea, resulting in the hybrid Nuphar × porphyranthera.

Etymology

The specific epithet advena means immigrant, outsider, foreigner, or stranger.

Distribution and habitat

It is native to Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Cuba. It has been introduced to the United Kingdom.
It occurs in ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, marshes, and swamps.

Ecology

The flowers are pollinated by sweat bees, syrphid flies, and leaf beetles.
The seeds are eaten by turtles and waterfowl.
The rootstocks are sometimes collected by muskrats.

Conservation

The NatureServe conservation status is T5 Secure.

Uses

The plant is used as food. The dried seeds can be eaten or ground to flour. Native Americans cooked the rootstocks and removed the rind to prepare the sweetish, glutinous contents in various ways.
It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant.