Karura Forest #2: Lily Lake
The cache, a special double screw-cap micro container with just a cache note/log sheet (so take your own pen!), is hidden in the picnic area overlooking this picturesque small lake.
For background information on Karura Forest including access, fees, features and a detailed trail map, see GC4PD3V Karura Forest #1: Intro, Info & Entry
The water lily family, Nymphaeaceae, with some 50 species (and numerous hybrids), is an old and evolutionarily primitive one, related to buttercups and magnolias. Fossil evidence suggests that they have not changed much over the past 160 million years. All they have done is move about the tropical and temperate zones of the globe.
The lovely aquatic plant with white flowers thriving in this lake is probably Nymphaea alba (European White Waterlily, White Lotus, or Nenuphar) or it may be a hybrid. It is a clump-forming perennial with thick, black, spongy, tuberous rhizomes anchored in the pond mud by spreading roots. The leaves are floating, large, flat, rounded or oval, and plate-like with notched margins, up to 40 cm in diameter, and split almost to the centre where the petiole (leaf stalk) is attached. They are relatively short lived and are replaced regularly throughout the growing season.
One plant can spread over an area of about 1m. The large, elegant, showy, white flowers are held well above the water at the tip of a sturdy green stalk and appear almost constantly from spring until the end of summer (September to February). They are bisexual, star-like and regular (actinomorphic) with 4 sepals and many petals. In the centre of the flower are numerous golden yellow stamens which open in early to mid-morning and close completely by late afternoon. The opening and closing mechanism of the flowers is controlled by the sepals - if they are removed, the flower cannot close. A fully open flower measures 15-20 cm across and each flower lasts for about four days. The flowers are sweetly fragrant and are visited constantly by bees who are the most likely pollinator. The fruits, containing many seeds, are produced in the autumn, and are also submerged. Water lilies are considered a well-established indicator of clear oligotrophic waters (ie. relatively low in plant nutrients and containing abundant oxygen in the deeper parts. Water-lilies are not only highly decorative, but provide useful shade which helps reduce the growth of algae in ponds and lakes.
History and legends
Water lilies, particularly nymphaeas, the true water lilies, are steeped in history and tradition. The name of the genus Nymphaea is a Greek word which refers to the practice of early Greeks of dedicating the water lily to the semi-divine water maidens, the nymphs. Even earlier, in Egypt, the blue lotus and white lotus, have been admired, painted, eaten, grown and revered for thousands of years. The goddess Isis is said to have pointed out that the rhizomes were edible, and its flowers, buds and leaves are often depicted on ancient monuments, in murals, on pottery and on furniture. Monarchs and priests of ancient Egypt were laid to rest with wreaths made from the petals of the blue lotus, laid in concentric semi-circles from the chin downwards.
The flowers were in great demand for religious festivals, offerings of the flowers being made to the dead or to the gods, as well as for gifts to visiting noblemen as a gesture of friendship and goodwill. The reason for their veneration lies in the belief that the beautiful blooms of the water lily, rising pure and clean from the slimy mud, were comparable with the aspirations of mankind: purity and immortality.
In Roman culture, some believed that drinking a liquid of Nymphaea pounded to a paste and drunk in vinegar for 10 days turned a boy into a eunuch!
Food . . . and drugs!
Water lilies have several edible parts. The young leaves and unopened flower buds can be boiled and served as a vegetable. The seeds, high in starch, protein, and oil, may be popped, parched, or ground into flour.
Nymphaea alba has sedative and aphrodisiac/anaphrodisiac effects depending on sources. Although roots and stalks are used in traditional herbal medicine along with the flower, the petals and other flower parts are the most potent. Alcohol can be used to extract the active alkaloids and boosts the sedative effects. The crushed roots mixed with wine were used by monks and nuns for 100s of years as an anaphrodisiac . . . !
For more information see here, here and here.