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Nymphaeaceae
Giant Amazon Water Lily
Victoria amazonica
Awe, regal beauty, the wonder of nature.
- Family
- Nymphaeaceae
- Genus
- Victoria
- Native to
- Amazon basin (Brazil, Bolivia, Guyana)
- Bloom season
- Summer (In The Wild)
- Type
- aquatic perennial
- Height
- Leaves to 3 m wide; flowers 25–40 cm
- Sunlight
- Full sun
- Soil
- Rich silt under tropical river water
- Water
- Aquatic (warm tropical water)
- Hardiness
- 11–12
- Lifespan
- Perennial in tropical conditions
Did you know
- Victoria amazonica leaves can support up to 70 kg of weight, distributed across an intricate network of air-filled ribs on the underside.
- The flower is white when it opens on the first night, then turns pink the next night after being pollinated by trapped scarab beetles.
- It's named for Queen Victoria after a specimen flowered for the first time in cultivation at Chatsworth in 1849.
- The leaf's structural rib system inspired Joseph Paxton's design for the Crystal Palace, built for the Great Exhibition of 1851.
- Each flower lasts only 48 hours and uses the heat generated inside its closed bloom to attract and trap its beetle pollinators.