# Tiger Lotus Flower?



## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

Think I finally got a flower off my tiger lotus, I've had it for about three years and it has spread like mad. I try and trim the leaves when they get too long. While looking at the aquarium today I noticed what looked like a flower bud.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Very nice. Definitely a flower, congrats! Be sure to post photos of it when it opens.

I remember when mine bloomed. It was very rewarding when it did.


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

Hooray! I'm excited about it, did yours smell good? I heard that they do.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I can't remember it was many years ago, maybe 10 ? It was definitely pretty to look at though.


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

I'll make sure to get plenty of pictures!


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

The bud has grown like crazy! Here's pictures from today.


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

It's almost to the surface of the water! It will probably grow enough to break the surface by tomorrow. I am surprised how quickly it has grown. I remember waiting forever for my Anubias flower to open. The stalk of the flower bud is super thick, much thicker than any of the leaves. Here are a few pictures from tonight, I'm hoping to have pictures from above the water tomorrow and maybe it'll flower by Monday!!


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

The surface has been breached!! Maybe it'll open today, not sure. The lights just came on so only time will tell I suppose.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Wow just look at that thing go! You can practically see it growing in real time. Just a few hours more now. I cant wait to see it.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

How the heck did you get it to grow so fast?!!! Wow, just wow. I can't wait to see it bloom! Ahh the rewards of a well kept tank.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

This is really cool, and thanks for all the photos. If this is _Nymphaea lotus_, the flower will be white and it will open at night.


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

When I was checking out the aquarium today I noticed there is now a second flower bud growing from the same plant. Hooray!

The first bud hasn't opened still, maybe tomorrow.



















The first bud is now fully out of the water, here's a up close pic.


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

It finally bloomed this morning around 3am, I checked on it before I went to bed. Got a few pictures of it. It looks really pretty! The second flower bud should be at the surface soon and hopefully they will bloom together!


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Nice! The flower will close during the day and re-open at "sunset" each evening. It will probably open for 3-4 days before fading.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

wow! That is one beautiful flower. How big is the flower? It looks huge in the pictures.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Wow congrats! That flower was worth the wait!! 

How does it smell?

I wonder if the plant is self fertile? It might be worth trying to cross pollinate the flowers if they both open up at the same time. Use a paint brush to do it.


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

pandragon said:


> wow! That is one beautiful flower. How big is the flower? It looks huge in the pictures.


It's about four inches from petal tip to petal tip.



Zapins said:


> Wow congrats! That flower was worth the wait!!
> 
> How does it smell?
> 
> I wonder if the plant is self fertile? It might be worth trying to cross pollinate the flowers if they both open up at the same time. Use a paint brush to do it.


So far it doesn't have a smell that I've noticed, I probably was mistaking it with another type if flower perhaps. But I do enjoy it just the same! That's a good idea about the paint brush, perhaps it will produce a bunch of bulbs then. Not that I need any more tiger lotus but would still be cool! Can RAOK off tiger lotus bulbs.

Right now it has grown tall enough that it is above my light fixtures and has not closed yet, so perhaps since there isn't much light on the flower directly it'll stay open the entire times it's alive. I wonder if this will allow the flower to conserve the energy used in daily opening and closing and live longer.


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

It closed up. Took a while, about 4-4.5 hours after lights on for it to close up but it did.


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

Just checked on it, seems like the flower is opening up more. The yellow portion in the center of the flower seems to be turning white at the base and seems like they will fold out eventually. Although the flower did close during the day it has re-opened tonight and here are some new pictures of it!


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

That is one beautiful flower, now, hopefully the other bud will reach the surface and bloom so you can try pollinating and end up with some seeds or new bulbs.


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

I was hoping the second one would be almost at the surface by now, but it seems to be taking it's sweet time. Since they are on the same plant I think it will keep the second flower under the water till the first one dies. As you can tell from the beginning of this thread the flower grew very rapidly, the second flower pod hasn't grown vertically in a few days, so I think it's in some waiting.


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

So I think today may be one of the last days of the flower. Overnight is has bent down almost five inches and it now on the surface of the water and several of the petals now have browns spots and the center of the flower is starting to dry out and get kind crisp.

The second flower bud is a few inches below the surface of the water still. I am pretty sure the plant was waiting for the first flower to die off before sending up the second. Maybe this is a precautionary measure taken by the plant to try and prevent self pollination. Or perhaps since the flowers don't seem to last log it is waiting till the first one is near death to increase it's chance of pollination by having a flower ready to go once the first one dies.

Either way it seems that is was waiting for the first flower to get to this state before growing the second bud any further. As you can see in the first few of my posts the bud grew very rapidly, and the second bud seemed dormant till yesterday, it seems to have grown several inches over night.

Here are some pictures from a few moments ago of my not so pretty anymore flower. These photos were taken with the aquarium light on, but the flower is so white I had to use a dark filter to make it visible in the photo and not a blur of light:


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

These are great photos. I don't think we have tiger lotus flowers in the plant finder yet. Perhaps if you send Cavan Allen (http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/members/cavan-allen.html) a PM you can put your photos up in the plant finder database for others to see in the future.

Its too bad that it is dying. It is such a beautiful flower. I wonder if you can dry it out and preserve the look of it? At least you have a second flower to enjoy!!


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

It opened again, a little more worse for wear but it's still kicking! Got a fee more pictures to share with you guys. I am hoping the second bud will make it above the surface by Tuesday but I'm not really sure. It hasn't grown anywhere near as fast as the first bud did.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

I noticed all my terrestrial plants throw out one or two flowers that seem to be sterile up to a month before gobs of flowers that produce fruit/seeds. I think they do that to attract bees and other pollinators so that the other flowers have a better chance of being pollinated in the short time they live. Maybe your tiger lotus is doing the same thing with the one fast growing flower? Maybe you will have another flower or two soon.


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

The second bud has breached the surface!!

I forgot to check the flower before I went to bed this morning. But when I got up the flower wasn't open, so I guessing it didn't open at all last night. Usually the flower has been open from around 3am till around 8pm, my lights come on at 4pm so the flower has gotten some light.

Yesterday I noticed that the flower had bent quite a bit and some of the petals were now in the water. This morning about half of the bud is in the water horizontally. The stem has also bent a great deal since the flower started to bloom. I stretched it out in one of the photos, probably almost a foot out of the water if it would've been erect.

Here are pictures from a few moments ago, my lights aren't on yet but I used a spot light.














































And yes, behold to glory of my water bottle light riser!!


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Yes, it has closed for good. Had it been fertilized, it would now set seed under water. When the seeds are mature they float away from the mother plant.

If I remember correctly, in most water lily species the stamens mature first and fade before the pistil is receptive to pollen and capable of being fertilized. Thus a single flower cannot fertilize itself, but depends on another flower of different age for the pollen. The aquarium varieties of _N. lotus_ I have grown never produced more than one flower open at a time, effectively preventing the individual plant from self-fertilzation. But the cultivars grown by water lily enthusiasts do produce more than one open flower at a time, so these should be self-fertile in theory.

"And yes, behold to glory of my water bottle light riser!!" LOL, I have one made from the plastic lid of a coffee can.


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

The first flower bud is now completely underwater, I am going to remove it tomorrow.


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## aquariums_101 (Aug 31, 2014)

Beautiful plants!


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## rahul2630 (Sep 30, 2014)

This is really impressive and cool, thanks for all the photos. If this is Nymphaea lotus, the flower will be white and it will open at night.


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