Water lilies in The Nile Delta: Ecological and Genetic Features of Nymphaea Species in the Nile Delta

In Egypt, Nymphaea lotus the white lotus, and Nymphaea caerulea, the blue lotus have been admired, painted, eaten, grown and revered for thousands of years. Spatial and temporal growth pattern of N. lotus and N. caerulea for several trends e.g. morphological traits Petiole length, Leaf area index and biomass allocation; environmental variables (water and sediment); and bio-chemical and molecular analysis are evaluated in the Nile Delta. When both species growing in mixture N. lotus showed vigorous growth form compared with N. caerulea. When N. lotus and N. caerulea growing singly the largest proportion of the biomass was allocated to the leaf blade , but in the months of fruiting the largest proportion of the biomass was allocated to the fruit. A mixed growth of both species affected the percentage of biomass allocation to the different plant parts. The differentiation between N. lotus and N. caerulea based on the analysis of seed protein and isozymes( Peroxidase and α-esterases )in seedlings showed significant variations between the two species.