Nymphaea Species
The following species of the Genus Nymphaea were crossed to produce the waterlily hybrids that are popular today.
In science, the binomial nomenclature system is used to name and classify living organisms. Binomial means "two names." Binomial names consists of a genus name (also called the generic name) and a species name, both of which are italicized. The genus name is capitalized while the species name is in lower case. Most genus and species names originate from Latin.
For example, Homo sapiens. Homo is the genus name and sapiens is the species name.
All organisms that belong to the same genus have similar general characteristics. All of those that belong to the same species look even more similar to each other. A species name usually describes a specific trait about that group of organisms. For example, if a species was discovered in Japan, it might have the species name "japonica." If the leaves of the species has sharp, blade like edges, it might have the species name "serrata" (serrated like the edge of a knife).
The category genus can be divided into an even smaller group called a subgenus. A subgenus shares more common traits than a genus, but is not as specific as a species.
Can you identify the similarities between members of the genus Nymphaea below? How about the differences between the various species?
Here are some of the subgenus of Nymphaea:
Interested in a career in Agriculture or Botany?
Check out the links below:
University of Hawaii - College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
Botanical Society of America - Careers in Botany
What Can I do With a Major in Botany?
Hawaii Career and Technical Education Pathways - Natural Resources