Red Water Lily - Nymphaea rubra

Botanical name: Nymphaea rubra

Other names: Red water lily, Red Lily of the Nile

Family: Nymphaeaceae; Apocarpiae Group, Subgenus brachyceras

Distribution: Nile Delta, Thailand, Asia, India

Origin : Thailand

Blue, Pink, Red and White water lilies were the most important cultivated ritual plant of ancient Egypt. They grew wild in ponds and in the lowlands of the Nile and were planted in all natural and artificial bodies of water. They were esteemed for their beauty, their enchanting hyacinth-like scent and their symbolism. The buds and flowers were popular head and hair ornaments. Both the living and the dead were festooned with garlands made from the plant. The garlands in the grave of the great pharaoh Ramses II (1290-1223 B.C.E.) were almost entirely of white and blue lotus. The Egyptian lotus was described by Dioscorides, who was certainly aware of the blue lotus as well.

The Blue Lotus was found scattered over Tutankhamen's body when the Pharaoh's tomb was opened in 1922. Many historians thought it was a purely symbolic flower, but there may be some reason to believe that ancient Egyptians used it to induce an ecstatic state, as well as being widely used as a general remedy against illness.

Azru, is an Egyptian mummy donated to the Manchester Museum in England, in 1825. Living on the Nile, in 2700 B.C, Azru was royalty, a noblewoman of Thebes, later called Luxor, a former capital of Egypt, a chantress at Khonsu - the moon god was the son of Amon and Mut. The main temple at Karnak is dedicated to him. Three times a day she would bring food and wine with blue lotus tincture or extract, fetch garments for the gods, priests and Pharaoh, and dance and sing for the royal court. She had wealth, and her own home and servants, where she stayed until scheduled or called to the temple.

Our Red Water Lily

Our Red Water Lily  is higher quality because it's freshly harvested by knowledgeable family farmers, as well as it's stored in the cold and dark. It contains a high content of essential oils.

Our Red Water Lily  is ethically harvested by local family farmers.

Our Red Water Lily is sold for incense or soap making, for decorative purposes and/or for legitimate ethnobotanical research and is not intended for human consumption. By ordering, you automatically agree to our terms and conditions. The information given here is for academic purposes only and not intended to be used medically.