July: Month of a Water Lily

Hi all.

For the past two months I've been working on Lilies: Garden Lilies in May and Calla lilies in June.
This month I will be working on Water lilies. Why, you ask? Because according to Wikipedia, it is a birth flower of July.

So what can we learn about them?

According to Wikipedia, there are 70 species of water lilies and they grow in temperate and tropical climates. They grow in rivers, pools and ponds with roots and stems under and flowers and leaves above the water surface.
They come in various shapes, colors and sizes and the largest of them, Victoria Amazonica, grows in South America.

Water lilies were immortalized on Claude Monet paintings.

But here's the thing. For some time now I've been wondering if there's a difference between a Water lily and a Lotus. For some reason I never bothered to check it.
Recently I began asking that question again and here's why. First - I learn to draw lilies now. Second - my sister opened a jewelry store and named it Silver Lotus. Obviously, the question came back to me and finally I've decided to find out - is there really a difference between the two or is it the same flower?

But I'll keep it for the August opening post.

Have a great day,
D.