The identity of the violet flowered water lily (Nymphaeaceae) and its hybrid origin in the wetland ecosystems of Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan violet water lily (Dam-manel) that is widely spread in natural water bodies of the country has been erroneously identified as Nymphaea nouchali (Nil-manel) in literature. Further the image of this flower, which has been erroneously used to depict the national flower of the country for nearly three decades, has not been taxonomically described and therefore does not have a botanical identity. Many scientific studies have been conducted on different aspects of the violet coloured water lily under either the erroneous identification or without a proper scientific name. The present study was conducted with the aim of clarifying its confused identity with N. nouchali, and also elucidating the parentage of the hybrid origin of Sri Lankan violet water lily using morphological and matK and psbA-trnH molecular sequence data. The morphometric analyses and the results of the BLAST search confirmed the identity of the native N. nouchali, and recognised the Sri Lankan violet water lily as a hybrid of N. micrantha and N. caerulea. Therefore, the plant is named and described as a new hybrid, Nymphaea × erangae Yakandawala, Guruge & Yakandawala. A taxonomic description is also provided for the newly described hybrid.