Prickly Water Lily (Euryale ferox): colours, meaning, where it grows and when it blooms

Prickly Water Lily is an aquatic plant with large, thorny leaves and violet-white flowers. Native to Asia, it is widely grown in India and China for its seeds, known as fox nuts or makhānā, which are eaten roasted or in sweets and soups.

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Its seeds, called fox nuts, are a popular snack in Asia
Bihar, India, grows most of the world's makhānā
The leaves can be over a meter wide and are covered in spines
Flowers have violet outer and white inner petals
The plant is listed as vulnerable in Japan and South Korea

What does Prickly Water Lily look like?

This aquatic plant grows in ponds, producing round, deep green leaves that can reach over a meter wide. Both leaves and stems are covered in sharp spines. The flowers are about 5 cm across, with violet outer petals and white ones inside. After flowering, it forms a round, spiky fruit filled with soft seeds. The plant floats on water and prefers rich underwater soil.

Where does Prickly Water Lily come from?

Prickly Water Lily is native from northern India across China, Korea, and Japan to eastern Russia. Archaeological finds show its seeds were eaten in the Yangtze region thousands of years ago. In India, especially Bihar, it is now widely cultivated. The plant was described scientifically in the early 1800s and is the only living species in its genus. Its name comes from a figure in Greek myth and a Latin word meaning fierce.

When and how Prickly Water Lily blooms

The plant grows in warm, sunny, freshwater ponds with rich soil. It does not thrive in shade or cold during its growing season. Traditionally, people harvest the seeds by diving into ponds, but newer methods use shallow flooded fields and machines. The seeds are collected from the spiny fruit, then dried for storage or cooking.

How Prickly Water Lily is used

The seeds, called fox nuts or makhānā, are a staple snack in India and China. They are roasted, fried, or cooked into sweets and soups. In India, they are also used in religious and festive dishes, and in traditional medicine. The plant is important in agriculture, especially in Bihar, and its seeds are exported. The seeds can absorb heavy metals from polluted water.

Kinds of Prickly Water Lily

A local variety called Mithila Makhana is grown in Bihar, valued for its quality. The plant is the only living member of its genus. Other scientific names have been used in the past but are now considered synonyms.

What Prickly Water Lily means

Euryale ferox is a symbol of regional agriculture in Bihar, India, where it is a major crop. In Japan and South Korea, the plant is considered vulnerable due to habitat loss and pollution. Its seeds have been used in Asian cooking and medicine for centuries, and archaeobotanical finds show it was eaten in prehistoric times.

Questions people ask about Prickly Water Lily

Where does the Prickly Water Lily come from?

It is native to a region stretching from northern India through China, Korea, and Japan to eastern Russia. It grows wild in ponds and lakes across these areas.

What is the plant used for?

The seeds, known as fox nuts or makhānā, are eaten as snacks, used in sweets and soups, and have a role in traditional medicine. The plant is also important in agriculture, especially in Bihar, India.

What does the Prickly Water Lily look like?

It has large, round, deep green leaves with sharp spines, and produces flowers with violet outer petals and white inner petals. The fruit is round and spiny, containing soft seeds.

Is the plant endangered?

It is considered vulnerable in Japan and South Korea due to pollution and habitat loss, but is listed as Least Concern globally because of widespread cultivation.

How are the seeds harvested?

Traditionally, people dive into ponds to collect the seeds from the spiny fruit, but newer methods use shallow flooded fields and mechanical harvesting.

Good reading and sources

Where this page comes from

The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Euryale ferox", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). Phool rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.

It may contain mistakes. It is not medical or foraging advice: many flowers are poisonous, and traditional uses are reported, not recommended. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Eucalyptus: Ethel Aardvark, CC BY 3.0, source

Common flax: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Amazon waterlily: Jose Antonio Orellana, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Tulip: John O'Neill, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Waterlily: Ragesoss, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Fennel: Elekes Andor, CC BY 4.0, source

Water-lily family: Marie-Lan Nguyen, CC BY 2.5, source

White Water-lily: DerHexer, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Prickly Water Lily: John Sims, Public domain, source

Prickly Water Lily