Nymphaea dimorpha is a species of waterlily endemic to Madagascar.
Description
This species exhibits two distinctive growth forms. The submerged growth form has very thin foliage with short petioles. The emergent form has floating leaves with longer petioles.
Genomics In 2026, a telomere-to-telomere gap-free genome assembly of Nymphaea dimorpha was published. The study referred to the species by its former name, Nymphaea minuta, which is now treated as a synonym of Nymphaea dimorpha. The assembled genome spans approximately 382 Mb and is organized into 14 chromosomes. The assembly has a BUSCO completeness score of 97.2% and 21,860 protein-coding genes were predicted. The study also generated a transcriptome atlas covering 15 organs and developmental stages, providing genomic resources for the study of early-diverging flowering plants.
Cytology The chromosome count is n = 14. The genome size is 449.88 Mb.
Reproduction Generative reproduction Cleistogamy occurs in this species. It can produce flowers, which never open, but self-fertilise and never reach the water surface.
Habitat It grows in pools of water among slowly flowing streams. The pools, which are darkened with organic material, are shaded by the canopy of tropical forest.Landon, K. C., Edwards, R. A., & Nozaic, I. P. (2005). A New Species of Waterlily, Nymphaea sp., from Madagascar. Water Garden Journal, 20(4).
Taxonomy Taxonomic history This species was first described as Nymphaea minuta K.C.Landon, R.A.Edwards & Nozaic in 2006. Later, it was discovered that this was a Nomen illegitimum, as the name was preoccupied by the French fossil waterlily Nymphaea minuta Saporta described in 1891. Therefore, the new name Nymphaea dimorpha I.M.Turner was chosen in 2014.
Type specimen The type specimen was collected in shaded rain pools beneath coastal forest near Tampolo, Madagascar in 1999.Nymphaea minuta | International Plant Names Index. (n.d.). Retrieved July 12, 2023, from https://www.ipni.org/n/60445240-2
Placement within Nymphaea It is a member of Nymphaea subgen. Brachyceras.
Etymology The specific epithet dimorpha references the two distinctive growth forms of this species.Turner, I. M. (2014, October). "Names of extant angiosperm species that are illegitimate homonyms of fossils." In Annales Botanici Fennici (Vol. 51, No. 5, pp. 305–317). Finnish Zoological and Botanical Publishing Board. The prefix di- means "two",Di definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary. (2023). Retrieved July 13, 2023, from https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/di and -morph means shape.Morph definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary. (2023). Retrieved July 13, 2023, from https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/morph
Cultivation It is easily cultivated and suitable for low-light conditions. In cultivation it may grow four times larger than plants observed in their natural habitat. This is due to better fertilisation. It is very sensitive to cold temperatures.Yang, K. (2022). "Leaf Anatomic Structure and Cold Tolerance Evaluation of 6 Nymphaea Species." Plant Gene and Trait, 13.
It is used in hybridisation to create new smaller waterlily cultivars.Sacher, R. (2008, February). - Lusty Li'l Nymphaea minuta. Water Gardeners International. Retrieved July 12, 2023
References