Water lily
Nymphaea sp.
Water Lily · Brooklyn Botanic Garden · 31 August 2025
White petals fading to gold at the centre, doubled in water dark and still enough to work as a mirror.
The pads around it are the same plant's leaves, each one slit to the centre so it can lie flat without buckling as it grows. The flower opens in the morning and closes in the afternoon for three days, then sinks below the surface to ripen its seed underwater.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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