Nuphar polysepala

Rocky mountain pond-lily

Family: Nymphaeaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Rocky mountain pond-lily is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, northern Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, northern Central Western California, and Modoc Plateau in ponds and slow streams at elevations below 2,500 meters. Flowering from April to September, this plant produces yellow to yellow-green flowers with red-tinged sepals up to 10 centimeters wide. Growing with floating leaves 1 to 4 decimeters long, it forms large aquatic patches with substantial underwater structures. Its broad leaves are oblong to ovate with rounded basal lobes, spreading across the water's surface in characteristic pond-lily fashion. The plant produces small seeds 3 to 5 millimeters long and features a distinctive 2 to 3.5 centimeter wide stigmatic disk.

Habitat: Ponds, slow streams

Bloom period: Apr-Sep

Elevation: < 2500 m

Bioregions: NW, CaRH, n&ampc SN, GV, n&ampc CW, MP

California counties: Del Norte, Mendocino, Alpine, Colusa, Fresno, Lassen, Mariposa, Nevada, Sierra, San Mateo, Tuolumne, Butte, Humboldt, El Dorado, Lake, Marin, Madera, Plumas, San Luis Obispo, Trinity, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Shasta, Yolo

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.