WATERLILY AND SPATTERDOCK ARE BLOOMING

WHITE WATER LILY

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YELLOW WATER LILY:MORE PROPERLY, SPATTERDOCK...

...IN A BACKWATER OF THE SIOUX RIVER

WATER CHINQUAPIN  Green Dean photo

LOW LYING FOG AT DUSK ON OLD HWY. K

Friday, 8:15 AM.  68 degrees F at the ferry dock, 66 on the back porch.  Wind variable, with very light gusts.  The sky is overcast, but looks like it will clear, the humidity is 78%.  The barometer is starting to fall, now at 20.87".  High temperatures will be in the mid-70's today, then fall to the mid-60's tomorrow, and remain around 70 for the coming week.  There will be chances of a thunderstorm tomorrow, and mixed skies thereafter.
  We took a ride at dusk last night, and the fields and low spots were filled with  fog, some of which looked for all the world like snow. Quite beautiful.
  In other "backyard news,' the Juneberries are finally ripe and the birds are having a feast. 
  Yellow pondlily, AKA spatterdock, Nuphar advena,   synonym lutea, in the Waterlily Family (Nymphaceae) is blooming in backwaters of the Sioux River and other quiet waters.  
   Our native water lilies, Nymphaea odorata, which have also begun to bloom, have mostly white petals, and the flowers float flat on the water ( N. alba is an occasional escapee from cultivation and may have roseate petals).  As the species name indicates, the native waterlilies are very fragrant.   The yellow Nuphar flowers are cup shaped and rise above the water on a long stem; the leaves also float.  Both species are in the water lily family. 
    There is a third species of waterlily-like aquatic plant, native to southern wisconsin, Nelumbo lutea, the water chinquapin, or wonkapin.  It's pale yellow flowers are also held above the water on a tall stem, and are otherwise very similar in appearance to those of Nuphar advena.  It appears in southern Wisconsin along the southern reaches of the Wisconsin River. The entire plant is edible and was a mainstay of the American Indian diet.
    N. nucifera, the oriental sacred lotus, is an occasional escapee in the same regions in southern Wisconsin. It has pink flowers.  I do not recall ever seeing it in the wild.  The leaves of the last two species are often held up out of the water by long stems, rather than float, like water-lily leaves.
   According to my records, all these species are blooming essentially at the right time, in mid-July.

FLOWERS 4
by 
Soul Survivor

floating, water lily is free
but ever has her anchor
in the bottom of the pond