Tropicall waterlily, but NO idea what it is!

[Mike S.]

I salvaged some tubers from my old greenhouse pond and started potting them up. I pretty much know what I had, so I thought I'd be able to ID these waterlilies as they bloomed. But now I have a mystery on my hands. . .  Could be a pond hybrid I suppose. I've always wanted to create my own new waterliles, but I didn't think about them doing all the work for me!

Does this look like it could be any named waterlily that you can think of?



The mottled pads seen do belong to the flower. The other plain green pads belong to it's  pond mate, a Daubin. Whatever it is, I like it. And I do have serval growing now, along with more corms, now with small pads, floating about one of the new patio ponds. So any ideas on just what this one is would be appreciated.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

[miguynmkoi]

I'd call it "Mine"!    Kidding!  No idea who this mystery lily is but it sure is purdy!

[Mike S.]

Thanks for the comment!

I will start going thru the books and see if it matches anything. I will grow out several more and keep some tubers in reserve. Could wind up laying claim to it, I guess. If nothing else, it has certainly sparked my interest in creating hybrids!

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

[greenthumbnails]

Do you have any other tropicals in the pond that are even remotely close in appearance to this one that you know the names to?

[jclements]

Is it definitely a named lily with a lost tag? Where did you get it? Is it viviporous, and can you show a photo of the bottom of the pads?

[Mike S.]

Thanks for the interest in figuring this one out!

No, not a known plant with a lost tag. At least not one I remember ever having. What was in that pond, and the one right next to it was Trudy Slocum, Red Flare, Emily Grant Hutchings, Mexicana, AlberGreenbergrg, Arc en ciel, Blue Bedazzled, Daubin and maybe Panama Pacific. Night bloomers, day bloomers, tropicals and hardies.

As best as I can recall, I never actually had a pink tropical. Both these ponds were in a PVC framed greenhouse. When I gave up the hobby maybe 10 years back, the greenhouse was uncovered, one pond went dry (more-or-less,) the other retained water but collected a thick layer of oak leaves. Now my interest has rekindled and all that was seen in those ponds were Mexicana. Lots of them. I started removing the oak leaves and located a number of dormant tubers. Some rather small, some quite large, mostly all appeared to be tropicals.

Here's the requested pics:



The underside of the pad. Veins are very distinct. That is also the flower in question, it looks more light-purple due to the low light picture. The picture in the original post is much more accurate for the flower's color. The flower has 4 sepals.





Top of the pad. Again, the color isn't quite well shown, these pics were taken while the pond was in the early morning, shaded by the house. But the mottling is flecked, a light purple, on a somewhat light-green pad. The sinus is almost, but not quite closed. This is true of all it's pads. The edge of the pad is serrated, typical of tropicals. It shows no tendency of being viviparous.

One odd thing, I've seen two growths, that resemble the runner that a Mexicana puts out, in the pot. The look almost like a stem that comes up out of the soil and loops back down into it. But I have not seen a new plant coming up where that loop goes back into the soil, as I would expect with a Mexicana sending out a runner. This could be just a root that arched up and back down, but I don't recall having seen that before in any other pot. When I re-pot this one, I'll take a closer look at that.

As far as I know, Mexicana is the only waterlily that reproduces by sending out runners.

Again, thanks for the interest!

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL