Numerous phylogenetic analyses and recent paleobotanical findings continue to support the inclusion of Nymphaeales as basal or near‐basal extant angiosperms. The distinctive differences in floral morphology and habit between non‐Nymphaealian taxa of the ANITA grade compared with water lilies, nevertheless, remain perplexing. In this investigation, scanning electron microscope observations on Brasenia (Cabombaceae), Nuphar, Nymphaea, Ondinea, Victoria, and Euryale (Nymphaeaceae) are added to the observations of earlier investigations to enhance our understanding of early floral evolution and shifts in floral ontogeny and to contribute new data for improved cladistic analyses. The enlargement of flowers and amplification of floral parts distinctive in Nymphaeaceae is based on continuing surface area enlargement of the floral apex, allowing numerous organs to be produced acropetally in distinctive parastichies, compared with the ring meristem found in some primitive eudicots (Nelumbonaceae, Papaveraceae) tha...