Nymphaea pygmaea is a controversial species[3][2] of perennial, aquatic herb[2] in the family Nymphaeaceae[4] native to Asia.

[5] It is a perennial, aquatic herb with erect, cylindrical, unbranched rhizomes without stolons.

[1] It is widely regarded as a synonym of Nymphaea tetragona Georgi.

[16] It is identified as the sister group to Nymphaea tetragona and Nymphaea leibergii based on nuclear ribosomal DNA,[5][2] but the relationships based on the analysis of the chloroplast DNA is unclear.

[5] The specific epithet pygmaea means small or dwarf.