versicolor is a variety of the water lily species Nymphaea nouchali Burm.f.

Later, it was included in the species Nymphaea nouchali Burm.f.

by Shashika Kumudumali Guruge and Deepthi Yakandawala in 2017.Its synonym Nymphaea malabarica Poir.

was published even earlier by Jean Louis Marie Poiret in 1798.

[7][8][9] It occurs in rice fields, swamps, marshes,[3] and ponds.