Plant: perennial aquatic herb; fresh-water; usually glabrous, with thick adventitious roots; STEMS stout, horizontal, elongate, sometimes tuberous, rhizomes, mostly 2.5-3 cm thick, with a few stout persistent branches, pale in color, covered with a dense, short, black pubescence, the internodes 2-5 cm long Leaves: 12-25 cm diameter, mostly glabrous, orbicular to oval, never peltate, coriaceous, entire or slightly emarginate at apices, the sinus usually narrow, the blade green, waxy above, green-tinged to purplish-tinged beneath; veins evident but not prominent beneath; petioles smooth or slightly pubescent, greenish-purple Flowers: 7-25 cm diameter, very sweet-scented; peduncles smooth, to 3 m long, greenish-purple, coiling 5-9 times in fruit; receptacle short, round, scarcely evident; sepals 4, 2-8 cm long, 1.5-2.5 cm wide, elliptic to ovate or ovate-lanceolate, usually purplish-green or purple on back; petals 17-32, 2-9 cm long, 1.5-3.5 cm wide, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, slightly broadened upward, the apices obtuse or rounded, gradually tapering to subacute tips, white; stamens 55-106; petaloid staminodes 1-4 cm long, 2.5-3 cm wide, the outermost staminodes oblanceolate, acute, with one short anther cell; carpels 13-25; styles short linear Fruit: a leathery berry-like capsule, 2.5-3.5 cm in diameter, fleshy or spongy, ripening under water; SEEDS ellipsoid, 1.4-4.4 mm long, 1.6 mm wide, dark olive, smooth, shining, aril one-fourth longer than the seed Misc: Ponds, lakes and slow streams; 350-2100 m (1100-6900 ft); Apr-Oct (rarely producing fruits in our area) REFERENCES: Ricketson, Jon. 1995. Nymphaeaceae. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. 29(1). 26.