ID on hardy waterlily collected at 100 year old mansion

Well my aunt and uncle live in a large house called the Gamble Mansion built in 1923 here in KY. They have a bed and breakfast place there and every few years we have a large family reunion at their place. I have been to this place many times but had never really thought about the plants growing around the place till this last trip. In the back part of the property is a fairly large pond completely full of waterlilies. I am not sure if these are species or if they are some very old hybrids? The pond was made up of mostly white flowering lilies but a few bright pink forms were also in the pond. My girlfriend who loved that I was willing to get in the pond for them took photos of me collecting three forms the white light pink and darker pink lilies. I thought they may have been some older hybrids that have started to revert back or breed back to species. Does anyone have any idea what they maybe??

Me making my way through 9 inches of water and 1 foot of mud.

Plants seem to be coming off the same rhizome but hard to tell in this mess. You can see both the pink and white flowers next to each other here.

Me with the lily and realizing how smelly the pond really is when you get in it.

pic of the whole plant

pic of the light pink flower

little bit of mud on the petals.

Last pic is the brighter pink flower.

Could this be native or is it defenatly a old hybrid??

Hi Brian, We have someone who visits occasionally from Perry's Watergardens, that would be your best bet on somoene here who could identify these. There is a fine waterlily book, name escapes me, that detail tons and tons of waterlilies and what characterize each, that would help surely. You could always throw this at the Victoria Adventures mailing list (saw your intro email :-), you're bound to get good feedback there. Good photos of the foliage would be really helpful. There are sooo many waterlilies in existence, making ID's very difficult if at all recommended unless there are very unique characteristics and being a natural pond there are bound to be seedlings flowering in there as well. Not any help at all, I know, sorry, I do think you should throw this at the mailing list though.

This message was edited Jan 27, 2007 2:21 PM

What a find!! They are beautiful and I hope you are successful in getting an identification.

Judy