WHITE KUBYSHKA (water lily, nymphaeum)
A perennial aquatic plant with a large rounded rhizome, surrounded by numerous roots, with leaves floating on the plane of the water. The latter are rounded or rounded-oval, obtuse, with a deep heart-shaped notch and unequal lobes. The flowers are large, white, with numerous petals, of which the outer ones are much larger than the inner ones, gradually turning into stamens; the calyx is rounded at the base, its leaves are oblong, green below, greenish-white above with 5 veins; stigma almost flat, gray-yellow. The fruit is round, green, multi-celled, ripening under water. Blooms from June to September.
It forms thickets in stagnant and slowly flowing waters – lakes, rivers, oxbow lakes, ponds at a depth of up to 2 m. In similar habitats, along with a white water lily, another species is found – a pure white water lily. The latter is distinguished by the following features: the leaves are mostly sharp with almost equal-sided lobes. The stigma is purple, strongly depressed, the base of the calyx is prominent, quadrangular.
For medicinal purposes, the rhizomes of the white water lily are used, which are part of the mixture (according to the prescription of M. N. Zdrenko), which, as a symptomatic remedy, is used in the treatment of bladder papillomatosis and anacid gastritis.
In folk medicine, rhizomes are used as an astringent, a decoction of flowers is drunk with whites.
Application
3 art. spoons of flowers (dry or fresh) are placed in a gauze bag, which is dipped in boiling water, and then taken out and applied to a sore spot for neuralgia, myalgia as an analgesic.