Editing Nymphaeaceae (section)

==Culture==
{{More citations needed|section|date=October 2024}}

The [[Nymphaea nouchali|water lily]] is the [[National emblem|national flower]] of [[Iran]], [[Bangladesh]] and [[Sri Lanka]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hettiarachchi |first=Kumudini |date=7 November 2010 |title=The 'great pretender' |url=https://www.sundaytimes.lk/101107/Plus/plus_01.html |access-date=14 September 2024 |work=[[The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)]]}}</ref> The [[Emblem of Bangladesh]] contains a lily floating on water. It is also the birth flower for the month of July.

The Nymphaeaceae, which is also called (Nilufar Abi in Persian), can be seen in many reliefs of the Achaemenid period (552 BC) such as the statue of [[Anahita]] in the [[Persepolis]]. Lotus flower was included in [[Kaveh the blacksmith]]'s [[Derafsh]] and later as the flag of the Sasanian Empire [[Derafsh Kaviani]]. Today, it is known as the symbol of Iranians [[Solar Hijri Calendar]].

Lily pads, also known as ''[[Seeblatt|Seeblätter]]'', are a charge in Northern European heraldry, often coloured red ([[gules]]), and appear on the [[flag of Friesland]] and the [[coat of arms of Denmark]] (in the latter case often replaced by red [[Heart symbol|hearts]]).

The water lily has a special place in [[Sangam literature]] and Tamil poetics, where it is considered symbolic of the grief of separation; it is considered to evoke imagery of the sunset, the seashore, and the shark.

===Heraldry===
<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
Blason Antoine Dubois (1756-1837).svg|The emblem of [[surgeon]] and [[obstetrician]] to [[Napoleon]], [[Nobility of the First French Empire|Baron]] [[Antoine Dubois]] (1756–1837).
Cyril Newall Arms.svg|Personal coat of arms of [[Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall]] (1946)
National emblem of Bangladesh.svg|[[National Emblem of Bangladesh]] (1972–present)
File:Escudo de Montederramo (Orense).svg|Coat of arms of [[Montederramo]], [[Ourense Province|Ourense]].
</gallery>

=== In visual arts ===
[[File:Claude Monet Nympheas 1915 Musee Marmottan Paris.jpg|thumb|''Nymphéas'', Monnet, 1915, [[Musée Marmottan Monet]].]]

Water lilies were depicted by the [[List of French artists|French artist]] [[Claude Monet]] (1840–1926) in a [[Water Lilies (Monet series)|series of paintings]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Muir |first=Kimberley |last2=Sutherland |first2=Ken |date=2021-02-09 |title=Color, Chemistry, and Creativity in Monet's Water Lilies |url=https://www.artic.edu/articles/862/color-chemistry-and-creativity-in-monets-water-lilies |journal=Art Institute Chicago |language=en}}</ref>

=== The Maya ===
[[File:Ancient civilizations of Mexico and Central America (1917) (17572484174).jpg|thumb|Maya iconography with water lilies]]

The main job of the [[Maya rulers|Maya]] rulers during [[pre-Columbian]] [[Mesoamerica]] was to obtain clean and drinkable water for their citizens during both the wet and dry seasons. Their success in accomplishing this is what allowed them to grow their polity by attracting dry-season laborers. They did this by constructing water systems such as [[reservoirs]], wetland reclamation, and [[dams]] and [[Channel (geography)|channels]] to capture and store rainwater. With their knowledge of the wetland biosphere, they transformed artificial reservoirs into wetland biospheres. One way that they tested whether the water systems were working properly was if the Nymphaeaceae were thriving. Water lilies became a visual sign of water cleanliness, so the Maya elite began to associate themselves with the flowers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lucero |first1=Lisa J. |last2=Gunn |first2=Joel D. |last3=Scarborough |first3=Vernon L. |title=Climate Change and Classic Maya Water Management |journal=Water |date=1 April 2011 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=479–94 |doi=10.3390/w3020479 |doi-access=free }}</ref> 

The Maya began to use water lily iconography depicted on [[stelae]], monumental architecture, murals, and in [[Hieroglyph|hieroglyphic writing]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Puleston |first1=Dennis E. |title=Social Process in Maya Prehistory: Studies in Honor of Sir Eric Thompson |chapter=The art and archaeology of hydraulic agriculture in the Maya lowlands |date=1977 |publisher=Academic Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-12-322050-9 |pages=449–467 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/3384967 }}</ref> Even in Maya settlements like [[Palenque]], where the main water supplies were springs and flowing streams (places where water lilies cannot grow), the flowers were prevalent in their iconographic records. Aristocrats and [[Maya religion|religious figures]] wore masks and/or headdresses during celebratory events that had water lilies and/or water lily symbols to appear like gods.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=McDonald |first=Andrew |title=Water Lily and Cosmic Serpent: Equivalent Conduits of the Maya Spirit Realm |journal=Journal of Ethnobiology |date=2012 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=74–107|doi=10.2993/0278-0771-32.1.74 |s2cid=55165881 }}</ref> There is also evidence that water lilies were used as cultural [[Entheogen|entheogenic]]. Some interpretations of ritual scenes drawn out by the Maya have been blood being extracted from perforated body parts. However, more close examinations show that this is instead a liquid flowing directly from water lily flowers that were on the heads of certain gods.<ref name=":1" /> It is likely that the Maya ingested these plants to create a non-ordinary state of consciousness, which makes sense because there is a class of opiate alkaloids in Nymphaeaceae.<ref name=":1" /> Overall, these examples show just how important this specific form of water symbolism was throughout the Maya region.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lucero |first1=Lisa J. |title=The collapse of the Classic Maya: A case for the role of water control |journal=American Anthropologist |date=September 2002 |volume=104 |issue=3 |pages=814–826 |doi=10.1525/aa.2002.104.3.814 |url=http://publish.illinois.edu/valleyofpeace/files/2019/07/collapseoftheclassicLucero2002.pdf |access-date=28 April 2023}}</ref>