Nymphaea conardii

Nymphaea conardii is an aquatic herb^[2] with ovoid, 4.5 cm wide rhizomes.^[3] The ovate-elliptical leaf blade is uniformly green,^[4] and it can reach up to 18 cm in length and 14 cm in width.^[5] The leaf venation is reticulate and dichotomous, with 9-15 primary veins.^[3] The leaf blade is attached to glabrous, max. 4 mm wide petioles with 2-4 primary and 4-6 secondary air canals.^[5]

The nocturnal flowers float on the water surface.^[2] The flowers have glabrous, non-brittle green peduncles with 5-6 primary, central air canals and 10-12 secondary, smaller, peripheral canals.^[4] The flowers have uniformly green, 3-6 cm long and 1-3 cm wide, oblong-ovate sepals with an slightly rounded or acute apex.^[5] The fruits are 1.5-1.7 cm long and 2.5-2.9 cm wide.^[4] The granulose, pilose, ellipsoid seeds have trichomes arranged in interrupted, longitudinal lines.^[2] The trichomes are 10–60 μm long.^[6]

The diploid chromosome count is 2n = 28.^[5]

It is stoloniferous, but only in a brief period in which the tubers resume growth.^[7] Proliferating pseudanthia are absent.^[2][5]

Autogamy is possible, as the stigma retains its female function in the second day, when the pollen is released, thus enabling self-fertilization.^[8] The seed dispersal is hydrochorous (i.e. water-dispersed) or ornithochorous (i.e. bird-dispersed).^[9]

It was first described by Wiersema in 1984.^[1]

The type specimen was collected on the 29th of August 1981 by J.H. Wiersema and A. Gonzalez from a pond in the Sosa Municipality of Barinas, Venezuela.^[10][5]

It is placed in Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis.^[6][7] It is closely related to Nymphaea gardneriana, Nymphaea glandulifera, and Nymphaea jamesoniana.^[11]

The specific epithet conardii honours the botanist Henry Shoemaker Conard (1874 - 1971).^[7]