Victoria Amazonica: giant water lily

In the Adelaide Botanic Garden is the Victoria amazonica, a giant water lily. It is the largest of the Nymphaeaceae family of water lilies, and is a native plant of the Amazon River in South America.

The species has very large round leaves, up to 3 metres in diameter, that float on the water's surface. The submerged stalk is 7–8 metres in length.

The flowers are white the first night they are open and become magenta pink on the second night. The flowers are up to 40 centimetres in diameter, and are pollinated by a beetle.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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