Only for one pedantic botanist!

I was very interested to see the Euryale: years ago, when I was at RHS Wisley Garden, we were given a small plant of it, by a Japanese friend, but I don’t think it survived. The ‘ferox’ (’fierce’) epithet refers to the handy spines on the leaves, leaf stalks, flower buds and fruit - defensive, no doubt, but against what, I wonder.

I’m intrigued by the curious little “posies” perched just above the water in the two bridge shots. I presume the plants are in containers on stems holding them just above water level. An interesting idea, though I’m not sure I like the rather twee effect.

All the waterlilies shown are in the same family (Nymphaeaceae), but belong to three different genera: true lotus is Nelumbo; what are normally called waterlilies are Nymphaea; and the dinner-plate leaf belongs to Euryale.

The rounded, stalked leaves held above the water in the first shot are the true lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), not yet flowering.

The open flowers in the third and penultimate photographs are not really lotus, but waterlilies, genus Nymphaea.

Yikes, does that mean that my “Lotus” post is mistitled? —Jeffrey

‘Kishin’ (it’s the name of the cultivar or variety, a hybrid raised only in 2004, apparently, see http://www.geocities.com/lilypage808/hybrids.htm) and is perhaps derived from Nymphaea caerulea - sometimes misleadingly called blue lotus. The water-speckled pinkish one is no doubt one of the many garden hybrid waterlilies, also Nymphaea.

The dinner-plates are yet another member of the family, Euryale ferox, which is grown more for the striking leaves than for the fairly small flowers.