Water lilies make a splash

RECENTLY I’ve spent quite a bit of time travelling in my boat on the Shannon and its tributary, the Suck. The pleasure of travelling our inland waterways in summer is added to by the fact that the water lilies are in flower.

There are two native species in Ireland — the yellow water lily and the white water lily. There are also some exotic species and cultivated varieties that have escaped and established themselves in the wild, mostly in ponds on old estates. One of these species, the fringed water lily, has been officially classified as an invasive alien plant.

The two native species are easy to tell apart when they’re in flower because, as you might expect, the yellow water lily has yellow flowers and the white water lily has white ones with yellow stamens and often a faint pink flush on the petals.