The water lily is already an impressive flower in its small size. But there are also giant specimens with leaves that can reach more than three meters in length. Scientists have discovered a new giant water lily and call it ‘a botanical wonder of the world’.

Victoria boliviana is the name of this new species, named after the former British queen and place of origin, it Llanos de Moxos in Bolivia. For a long time it seemed to be an already existing species, but researchers in Bolivia and botanists at the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in Sussex, UK, have now shown that it is indeed a new water lily.

pink flowers

The V. boliviana is the largest water lily in the world with leaves that can reach three meters in length in the wild. The current record is held by a lily in the Rinconada Gardens in Bolivia, which has leaves 3.2 meters long. The flowers are beautiful: they color from white to pink and have spiky petioles.

For a long time little was known about the species Victoria, partly because the giant water lilies are difficult to collect in the wild. In 1832 the first V. amazonica discovered, but data was lacking to compare other species with this flower. This led, among other things, to the misidentification of the new V. boliviana.

Three types

To increase the knowledge about the Victoria to improve, the authors of a new paper, which in scientific journal Frontiers in Plant Science popped up† collected all existing information and developed a dataset of the characteristics of the species with the help of citizen science (for example via social media). Further investigation showed that the V. boliviana genetically very different from two already known species. The data confirmed what the researchers suspected: there appear to be not two, but three species of the iconic plant: the V. amazonicathe V. cruziana and the V. boliviana† According to the study, the V. boliviana separated from the about a million years ago V. cruziana† Plant genome researcher Natalia Przelomska explains: “Considering how quickly biodiversity is currently being lost, the description of new species is a task of fundamental importance. We hope that our multidisciplinary approach can inspire other researchers who are looking for methods to identify new species quickly and convincingly.”

The Victoria boliviana in the wild in Bolivia. Photo: Carlos Magdalena, RBG Kew.

Kew’s lead researcher and botanist, Carlos Magdalena, had suspected for a long time that he was on the trail of a new species. “Ever since I first saw a photo of this plant online in 2006, I was convinced it was a new species. Botanists know their plants well: we can often distinguish them in the blink of an eye. It was immediately clear to me that this plant did not quite fit the description of one of the well-known ones Victoria-types. That’s why there had to be a third. For nearly two decades, I’ve been studying every photo of savage Victoriawater lilies on the internet, a luxury that a botanist never had.”

Only at night

Because the flowers of the giant water lilies only open at night, Kew botanical artist Lucy Smith made many nighttime excursions to the greenhouses to draw and paint the flowers. When the first flowers of the V. boliviana opened on a stormy evening in July 2018, she immediately shared Carlos’ suspicions that the flower was unique and soon began describing the differences through illustrations. What struck her most was the resemblance between this new plant and a specimen found and signed in Bolivia in 1845. It turned out to be the same new species, although it was not known at the time.

It’s not the only time the V. boliviana has been described. Also in 1988, a scientist found the special flower. He then assumed that it was a V. cruziana concerned, but even then it turned out to be the V. boliviana to go.

This beautiful giant water lily is now on display at the Waterlily House and Princess of Wales Conservatory at Kew Gardens in Sussex, UK. Kew is the only place in the world where you can find the three types Victoria can see side by side.

the water lily

Water lilies are one of the oldest flowering plants in the world. The largest species is the Victoria boliviana, whose leaves have reached a record length of 3.2 meters. The smallest water lily is the Nymphaea thermarum.

Giant water lilies are native to tropical regions in South America and Asia. The first giant water lily to be scientifically described was the Victoria Amazon in 1852. The leaf of the giant water lily can support a weight of up to 80 kilos.

The giant water lily flower is white on the first day and pink on the second and only blooms at night. The flower has sharp spines on the outside that protect it from fish and other animals, but the surface and inside are soft.

The lily pad has notches on the side that are used to drain excess water collected at the top.

The giant water lily has a gigantic genome, almost one and a half times the size of the human genome.

In Britain’s Kew Gardens, giant water lilies are grown every year from a pea-sized seed. The lilies can grow over two meters in length in just four months.

6-year-old boy sits on a leaf of the Victoria boliviana. The leaves can carry up to 80 pounds. Photo: RBG Kew