Water lilies in the botanical garden of Hefei, the capital city of Anhui province, made their grand debut in the garden’s waterscape zone this month. Their leaves cover most of the water surface, stretching into a verdant blanket dotted with brightly colored flowers. On this blanket, waterfowl twitter and bounce, adding more liveliness to colorful show of vegetation.

The water lily is a species of perennial aquatic plant distributed in subtropical and temperate zones, including Central Asia, West Asia, North America, India, China and Japan. They have round, waxy-coated leaves on long stalks that arise from underwater stems buried in the mud. Their solitary flowers of various colors appear at the water’s surface on long stalks. Their cuplike seedpods are surrounded by spiral arrangements of petals. Water lilies bloom in the morning and evening from about June to September every year.

By Chen Zhilin (chinadaily.com.cn)