The World’s Largest Waterlily Has Just Been Identified and It’s Huge

Imagine being able to step foot on a giant waterlily that could hold your weight and provide a zen zone for you on the water within the Amazon rainforest. It sounds a bit like something out of “Alice in Wonderland”, but experts have actually discovered such a plant in Bolivia, and it’s the largest waterlily plant the world has ever seen.

Victoria boliviana is the newest member of the waterlily family, and it’s also by far the biggest — by up to two feet. Victoria amazonica and Victoria cruziana, which hail from the Amazon River basin and Parana-Paraguay basin respectively, were previously the only two giant water lilies in their family, with Victoria amazonica being able to produce 20-inch-wide flowers.

Victoria boliviana, on the other hand, has leaves that span 9.8-feet-wide and can support the weight of an adult man. 

Kew Gardens in London finally named and chronicled the new plant, and Carlos Magdalena, Kew’s scientific and botanical research horticulturist, has been working to identify this new species for nearly a decade.

“They look a little bit like a giant frying pan, if you like,” Magdalena told NPR. “They are quite difficult to collect in the wild because explorers — if they are working in the forest and they see one 1 kilometer away in the middle of a lake, it’s a bit of a drama to get there.”

But after collecting seeds from the boliviana and growing specimens at Britain’s Royal Botanical Gardens, Magdalena realized that this plant had different DNA compared to its amazonica and cruziana cousins. 

You can see these massive waterlilies at Kew Gardens where they officially have a name after being studied for so many years.