THE
AMAZING GIANT WATER LILY
VICTORIA AMAZONICA
It
is a remarkable sight and every Botanist’s and Naturalist’s Delight – to see
the Giant Water Lily, with its awesome 3 meter or 10 feet in diameter leaves
and the enchantingly beautiful huge Creamy White Lily Flowers – 40 centimeters
in size.
Currently blooming in the Lily Pond of the Mahatma Gandhi Botanical Gardens, Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra (GKVK) campus of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore is this Show Stopper – the Giant Water Lily – Botanical Name: Victoria amazonica.
The
lily plant was brought from the Acharya Jagadish
Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, Botanical Survey
of India, Kolkata by Dr. A N Sringeswara, Curator, Mahatma Gandhi
Botanical Gardens, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.
The
Giant Water Lily:
Victoria amazonica is an ornamental plant and highly prized both for its giant
leaves and for its stunningly beautiful white flowers. It is the world’s
largest water lily and is the largest known member in the Nymphaeaceae family.
The surprisingly gorgeous blooms of the awesome Victoria
amazonica are a botanist’s delight; these blossoms typically reach a
diameter of about 40 Centimeters or 16 Inches and appear as white on their
first day, then change to deep pink afterwards. The flowers begin to open as
the sun starts to set and can take up to 48 hours to fully open.
The fragrant flower of Giant water
lily only blooms for few days. The first night, the flowers are creamy white
color.
Pollination mechanism:
Due to the thermochemical reaction happening
in flower, it gives off heat. The flower’s pineapple
and butterscotch scent as well as heat attract native pollinating beetles,
such as the scarab beetle of the genus CYCLOCEPHALA. By
evening, the flower closes itself and beetle spends one night inside the
flower, covering itself in the flower’s pollen. The second day, the flower
reopens, turned into beautiful pinkish color. Beetle then flies off to some
other Water lily flower carrying the essential pollen to ensure
cross-fertilization. This process keeps Giant water lily species alive.
It was originally named Victoria regia and was described by Tadeáš Haenke in 1801, it was first discovered in
Bolivia and is indigenous to the Amazon River basin’s shallow waters. It was
subsequently names Victoria amazonica.
The common names for the water lily include Amazon water lily,
Victoria-lily, or Giant water lily.
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