The spa lily

The thermal water lily grows in Băile 1 Mai (1st May Baths, a thermal spa resort near Oradea, Bihor County, Northwestern Romania) from the time of dinosaurs, is a living fossil and unique in the world. The spa lily or the lotus flower (Nymphaea lotus var. termalis), is a species of Romanian endemic lily.


Origin: Nymphaea lotus var. termalis (flower unique in Romania, protected by law) is a natural reserve. In the area can be found also other species of lilies, and it is assumed that the water lily (Nymphaea alba) and lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) seeds were brought here either by the Turks or by the migrating birds, and thermal water have been favored the development of the plant. But only the thermal water lily is unique in the world.


Botanist Kitaibel Pál discovered that lily species in 1789, and received its name later, in 1908, when Tuzson János give it this name because of similarity of spa lily with the Nile lily. In 1931, the plant was declared a natural monument.

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