The rhizome is horizontal, thick, and long, green with black scars from fallen leaf stalks, white and porous (aerenchyma) inside, with numerous roots extending from the bottom, anchoring it underwater in silt. The lower leaves are submerged and translucent; the upper leaves are floating, long-petioled, oval, rounded at the tip, with a deeply heart-shaped base, dense, and entire-edged. The flowers are yellow, fragrant, and rise 5–6 cm above the water. There are 5 large, bell-shaped, yellow sepals resembling petals. Numerous petals are attached to the receptacle, shorter than the sepals, narrow, and yellow. There are many stamens. The ovary is oval-conical, multi-loculed, with a sessile, radiating stigma. The fruit is fleshy and green. Seeds are surrounded by an air sac, enabling them to float and disperse over long distances. Flowering occurs from June to September.
The yellow water-lily grows in thickets, usually in shallow, slow-flowing rivers, ponds, backwaters, and lakes. It is widely distributed throughout most of the Soviet Union.
The rhizomes of the yellow water-lily—Rhizoma Nuphari lutei—are harvested. The rhizomes are easily pulled from the water, roots and leaf stalks are removed, then cut into pieces or slices and dried.
A sulfur-containing mixture of alkaloids called nupharin has been extracted from the rhizomes, with nuphlein as the primary alkaloid. The rhizomes also contain tannins, sucrose, a large amount of starch, and metarabic acid. The seeds contain 44% starch, and the flowers contain a glycoside with digitalis-like action. The alkaloids have antitrichomonal, bacteriostatic, fungistatic, and spermatocidal properties.
The drug Lutenurin, containing a sum of alkaloids, is produced as a liniment in globules (0.003 g each) and tablets (0.003 g each). It is used as tampons for acute and chronic trichomonal diseases complicated by bacterial and fungal flora (a treatment course lasts 10–15 days). It is also used as a contraceptive in globules or gelatinous vaginal tablets.