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Dotleaf Waterlily
Nymphaea ampla
Nymphaea ampla, also known as the dotleaf waterlily, is a species of flowering plant in the family Nymphaeaceae. It is native to Texas, Florida, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern and western South America.
It is depicted in Mayan art alongside jaguars and kings, held cultural significance as a symbol of life, fertility, and birth, with its opiate-like effects used for calming and inducing mild trances.
From the article Nymphaea ampla on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
In human culture
Nymphaea ampla is widely represented in Mayan art, especially in its depictions with jaguars and Mayan kings. Its cultural importance can be seen in one of the Mayan names of the plant; nikte’ha’ (The Maya term nikte’ha’ literally means "flower of the water", but has also been interpreted symbolically as "vulva of the water") as it would have represented life, sexual activity, fertility, and birth. The plant causes opiate-like effects on the user and is known to have been used as a calmative and mild trance inducer.
Wikipedia: “Cultural significance”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Nymphaea ampla in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 165750.