05/31/2026
🌼Wildflower Highlight🌼
American White Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata)
Also known as fragrant water lily or beaver root, Nymphaea odorata grows across most states. Though native to Iowa it is considered an invasive w**d in some western states where it was spread as an ornamental plant.
In Iowa's ecosystem, Nymphaea odorata adds oxygen into slow moving bodies of water by pulling oxygen through it's broad leaf and down it's stem to the spongy, tentacle-like rhizomes beneath the water. In addition to adding oxygen to the water, the leaves of Nymphaea odorata provide habitat to largemouth bass and sunfish, food for deer, muskrats, and beavers, and a resting platform for dragonflies, damselflies, and frogs.
All parts of Nymphaea odorata are edible. Native Americans and European Settlers both enjoyed eating this plant and used ground up seeds to thicken soups. Some Native American tribes have used this plant to treat coughs and toothaches.
Nymphaea odorata only opens it's flowers for three days. The first day the flower takes a more cup like shape and fills with sugary fluid. This is when beetles and bees carrying pollen from other American white water lilies will fertilize the plant by falling into the fluid. The second and third day are spent producing pollen for other American white water lilies.
Right now, this wonderful plant can be found growing and blooming in the lake at F.W. Kent Park.
