A giant water lily grown in Kew Gardens has been named new to science, in the first such discovery in more than a century.
Scientists in the South West London garden suspected for decades that there might be a third species of giant water lily and worked with researchers at his home in Bolivia to see if his thesis was correct.
In 2016, the Bolivian institutions Santa Cruz de la Sierra Botanical Garden and La Rinconada Gardens donated a collection of giant water lily seeds of the suspicious third species. These germinated and were grown in Kew, so it could be grown alongside the other two species. The scientists also studied the DNA of the three plants and found that they were clearly different.
The three species of the genus are Victoria amazonica, cruziana and boliviana, which bears the name of Queen Victoria. The results, published in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science, suggest that the new species is more closely related to Victoria cruziana and that they diverged a million years ago.
Natalia Przelomska, a Kew scientist who worked on the project, said: “In the face of a rapid rate of biodiversity loss, describing new species is a task of fundamental importance; We hope that our multidisciplinary framework can inspire other researchers looking for approaches to identify new species quickly and robustly. “
Carlos Magdalena said the discovery of the third species was the biggest success of his 20-year career in Kew. Photo: Ines Stuart-Davidson / Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
With leaves that grow up to three meters in the wild, it is also the largest giant water lily on the planet. The striking lily has flowers that change from white to pink, and bears thorny petioles, the stem joining the leaf to the stem. It is found naturally in the aquatic ecosystems of Llanos de Moxos, the current record of the largest plant of the species is held by the Gardens of La Rinconada in Bolivia, where the leaves reached 3.2 meters.
Specimens of this large aquatic plant have been sitting in the Kew herbarium for 177 years and in the Bolivian national herbarium for 34 years, but it was commonly thought to be one of the other two species.
Scientists have named it Bolivian Victoria, in honor of its South American home. There is a gap in our knowledge of giant water lilies, as there are very few specimens of the original plants used to classify and name species in Victorian times. This could be because giant water lilies are hard to pick from nature.
Kew scientific and botanical research horticulturist Carlos Magdalena said the discovery is the biggest achievement of his 20-year career at Kew.
He added: “Ever since I first saw a photo of this plant online in 2006, I was convinced it was a new species. Horticulturists know their plants up close; we are often able to recognize them at once. of eye.
“It became clear to me that this plant did not fully fit the description of any of Victoria’s known species and therefore had to be a third. For almost two decades, I have been examining every image of the wild water lilies of Victoria. Victory through the Internet, a luxury that a botanist of the eighteenth, nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries did not have. “
The Bolivian specimen used to describe the new species was collected in 1988 by Dr. Stephan G Beck, Professor Emeritus of the National Herbarium of Bolivia, who thought it was Victoria Cruziana.
Scientists have named the plant the name Victoria Boliviana, in honor of its South American home. Photo: Ines Stuart-Davidson / Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
He said: “When the Bolivian National Herbarium was born in 1984, there were very few scientific collections for Bolivia and many places to study, but I focused my interest on an area of the Llanos de Moxos. For a few years I had the opportunity to collect aquatic plants in flooded areas of the Yacuma River, and I obviously wanted to see the Queen Victoria that the locals told me about.
“However, it took me years to find this tremendous plant. Finally, in March 1988, after navigating the Yacuma River for more than two hours looking for tributaries with several huge leaves and some flowers, I picked them up and kept them in the Herbarium. Bolivia’s National, which turned out to be a specimen of Bolivian Victoria, now the type specimen. It was a great find and one I will always remember. “
The plant can now be seen in the water lily house and at the Princess of Wales Conservatory in Kew Gardens. Kew is the only place in the world where the three described species of Victoria can be seen together side by side.
Giant water lilies: the wonder of the Victorian era
The Kew Gardens Water Lily House opened in 1852 and was built to house the giant plants discovered by explorers in the Amazon Basin.
The giant water lily Victoria amazonica attracted crowds that marveled at its huge circular leaves, strong enough to support the weight of a child.
A race to present the first giant water lily flower to Queen Victoria was held among botanists, after Kew Gardens tried for a decade to cultivate the seeds. Six of these germinated successfully, some were preserved and the rest were sent to Syon House in London and Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.
Despite surprising the Western world, the plant was well known to the natives of the Amazon, who used it for food and medicine.