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Giant discovery - 12th August 2022

Botanists have named a new member of the giant waterlily family. These plant scientists already knew about the Amazonica and the Cruziana waterlilies. However, they've identified a third member, the Victoria Boliviana, which is the largest giant waterlily in the world.

Kew Gardens received waterlily seeds from two gardens in Bolivia. Scientists studied the DNA of the plant and discovered it was a new species. They kept the giant waterlilies visible at Kew Gardens, but with no information, until they’d completed their research on the new flower.

Two thousand new species are discovered annually. However, it's quite special to come across a new plant of this size. Botanist Carlos Magdalena thinks it's incredible how much remains undiscovered.

Carlos Magdalena: "Taxonomists, we discover about 2,000 species every year. So, it is not rare to find a new species. What I think is very unusual is a plant the size with this level of fame to be discovered in, in the year 2022. That is quite unusual. It also highlights how many things could be out there, isn't it."

With leaves three metres across, one waterlily produces lots of flowers a season, but they open one by one. Before dying, each flower goes from white to pink and stays open for two nights.

Lucy Smith thinks the giant waterlily’s spectacular.

Lucy Smith: "When I was finally able to observe a fully open flower, that's when it really hit me and hit us that this was something completely different from the other species. It was a spectacular flower. It was one of the largest flowers I'd seen. And the colouring and the structures were very different from the other species."

To see all three giant waterlilies in one place, Kew Gardens is the place to be.

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