Nymphaea mexicana is a species of aquatic plant that is native to the Southern United States and Mexico as far south as Michoacán. Common names include yellow water lily, Mexican water lily and banana water lily.
Nymphaea mexicana is a rhizomatous, aquatic, perennial herb with stoloniferous, up to 30 cm long, and 4 cm wide rhizomes. The rhizomes bear leaf and root scars. The stolons are 15âÂÂ100 cm long, and 0.5âÂÂ1 cm wide. The ovate, suborbicular, or elliptic lamina is 7âÂÂ18(âÂÂ27) cm long, and 7âÂÂ14(âÂÂ18) cm wide. The long, cylindrical petiole is glabrous.
The floating or emersed, yellow, 6âÂÂ13 cm wide flowers have peduncles with four primary air canals. The flowers have four sepals and 12âÂÂ30 yellow petals. The androecium consists of 50 stamens. The gynoecium consists of seven to ten carpels. The spheroid or ovoid fruit bears 3âÂÂ5 mm long, and 3âÂÂ5 mm wide seeds with hairlike papillae. Tuberiferous flowers or proliferating pseudanthia can be present.
The chromosome count is n = 28. The genome size is 586.80 Mb. The chloroplast genome is 159962 bp long.
It was published by Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini in 1832. Within the subgenus Nymphaea subg. Nymphaea it is placed in the section Nymphaea sect. Xanthantha.
The specific epithet mexicana refers to Mexico.
Together with Nymphaea odorata, it forms the natural hybrid Nymphaea ÃÂ thiona.
Nymphaea mexicana reproduces vegetatively through stolons. Their structure, resembling bananas, consists of leaf buds and thick, starchy roots. Additionally, tuberiferous flowers or proliferating pseudanthia can be present.
The NatureServe conservation status is Vulnerable (G3).
It occurs in up to 4 m deep water in lagoons, canals swamps, and rivers. It can occur in brackish water.
The canvasback duck, Aythya valisineria, feeds on the banana-like roots of the plant.
Together with its hybrids, it has become an invasive species outside of its natural range. For instance, it has been recorded in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the Iberian Peninsula.