re: Nuphar Japonica

[Neil Frank <aquarian.subjects at mindspring_com>]

From: Dgrim62 at cs_com
> The plant 
>supposedly comes from the orient, but it also grows in the Cape Fear River 
>basin in the Carolinas, I believe. 

If Dave's plant came from the Carolinas, it is probably Nuphar luteum.
There are 2 described suspecies - macrophyllum and saggittifilium. The
first has roundish leaves and can be found in most of the eastern US. The
latter has oblong, undulated leaves - it is said to only be found in VA, NC
and SC and has also been called the Southern Spattedock and Nupar lutea v.
"Cape Fear." It is know to the hobby for a long time -- it can be found in
the aquarium literature as early as 1917 in Goldfish Varieties and Tropical
Aquarium Fishes by Innes publication.

N. japonica is a different plant which eminates from East Asia. 

>although they never have it in stock, and AquaBotanic does 
>right now.
N. japonica is more likely an import.