(William Tricker 1897) One of the oldest hybrids among the tropical waterlilies. Probably it is a cross of Nymphaea caerulea x Nymphaea capensis. Its flowers are light blue and starshaped, the foliage is green. The variety is medium sized to large.

In the course of time considerable confussion arose around the identy of this variety. When Tricker introduced it to the market he named it Nymphaea `Pulcherrima`. A few years later a similar but somewhat darker coloured variety was created by Henry Conard and it was named Nymphaea `Pennsylvania`. Since 1923 the American Joint Commitee on Horticultural Nomenclature proposed not to give Latin names to hybrids any longer (thus making it possible on the first glance to separate the varieties from the species). Tricker followed the proposal and changed the name of `Pulcherrima` to `Blue Beauty`. For some years Tricker offered both varieties in his catalogues, but in 1928 the catalogue offered only `Blue Beauty` and stated that `Pennsylvania` was only a synonym of it (the description however fitted more to `Pennsylvania`). My guess is either that one of the varieties went lost in the nursery or that the two varieties had mix unseparable in the propagation ponds. Of course both varieties were kept also in other nurseries, but soon these nursieres started to regard both varieties as identical. If the originator of the variety did so, who wouldn`t follow him? From that moment on Nymphaea `Pulcherrima` and Nymphaea `Pennsylvania` were sold as Nymphaea `Blue Beauty` everywhere. verkauft. These situation was cleared up by Walter Pagels in 2002 by reading old catalogues and books on waterlilies. The problem is now clear, but it isn`t solved. Still the identity of waterlilies sold as `Blue Beauty` is doubtfull. We received our stock plants from Florida and we think it is Nymphaea `Pulcherrima`. Only direct comparison with the sister variety could reveal if we grow the lighter coloured (= `Pulcherrima`) ore the darker coloured (= `Pennsylvania`) variety.