Typically,
they only last about 16-20 years. But certain species have a much longer life expectancy. Black cherry trees, for example, can live up to 250 years.
The largest water lilies are those of tropical South America and were formerly placed in their own genus, Victoria, but are now in the genus Nymphaea. The leaf margins of both the Amazon, or royal, water lily (N. amazonica, formerly Victoria regia) and the Santa Cruz water lily (N. cruziana) have upturned edges, giving each thickly veined leaf the appearance of a large shallow pan 60 to 180 cm (about 2 to 6 feet) across and accounting for its common name, water platter. The fragrant flowers of these species have 50 or more petals and are 18 to 46 cm (about 7 to 18 inches) wide. They open white toward evening and shade to pink or reddish two days later before they wither, to be replaced by a large berrylike fruit.
Most species of water lilies have rounded, variously notched, waxy-coated leaves on long stalks that contain many air spaces and float in quiet freshwater habitats. The stalks arise from thick, fleshy, creeping underwater stems that are buried in the mud. The showy, fragrant, solitary flowers are borne at or above the water surface on long stalks that are attached to the underground stems. Each cuplike flower has a spiral arrangement of its numerous petals.
