World’s largest giant waterlily officially recognised by Guinness World Records
Release date: 30 January 2023
At an event hosted today at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in West London, an official from Guinness World Records™ has presented Mr Juan Carlos Crespo Montalvo, the Bolivian Charge d’Affaires, with an official Guinness World Records title for the world’s largest giant waterlily, the recently-named Victoria boliviana.
The species, which was named new to science in July 2022, has been described as one of the ‘botanical wonders’ of the world following years of investigation that culminated in the publication of a paper in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science.
The incredible effort was headed by RBG Kew’s scientific and botanical research horticulturist Carlos Magdalena, freelance botanical artist Lucy Smith, and biodiversity genomics researcher Natalia Przelomska, in close collaboration with partners at the National Herbarium of Bolivia, Santa Cruz de La Sierra Botanic Garden and La Rinconada Gardens.
V. boliviana, which is native to the Llanos de Moxos wetlands of Bolivia, has been named in honour of Kew’s Bolivian partners and its South American home country.
Mr Crespo Montalvo said: “I want to thank Richard Deverell, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and thank through him and all the researchers and team that are part of Kew for this invitation. The recent scientific discovery of the new species of giant waterlily in Bolivian territory and baptized as Bolivian Victoria is a finding that of great joy and hope for all peoples. Nature continues to surprise us with new discoveries. We agree with Director Deverell that we must work together to strengthen cooperative ties to face the great challenges of our time, such as climate change and the biodiversity crisis. Bolivia is a state that respects Mother Earth and we are attentive to continue strengthening ties of friendship, research and cooperation.”
In total, three Guinness World Records titles have been awarded to the V. boliviana, respectively:
Largest species of waterlily
Largest waterlily leaf
Largest undivided leaf
(Full record details below)
Carlos Magdalena, who suspected the waterlily was a new species as far back as 2006 and grew it at Kew Gardens from seeds donated from Bolivia, said: “Kew Gardens was the very first garden to grow a giant waterlily species from seed. After suspecting for years that there was a third species in the Victoria genus, it is fantastic to see Victoria boliviana recognised by Guinness World Record titles. I’m delighted to have played a part in its discovery and celebrate not only a new species, but the global collaboration between Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and its partners, the National Herbarium of Bolivia, Santa Cruz de La Sierra Botanic Garden and La Rinconada Gardens.”
Lucy Smith, joint co-author whose botanical illustrations played an integral role in the species’ description, said: “The new Guinness World Record titles shine a light on what global collaboration can do for science. The discovery of Victoria boliviana brought together many elements of RBG Kew’s expertise, from horticulture, botanical artistry, and scientific research. I’m honoured to have been a part of this recognition and hope that botanical illustration is used to further continue the description of new species to Science.”
The announcement, jointly made with La Rinconada Gardens, serves to strengthen a long-standing scientific partnership between RBG Kew and key partners in Bolivia, which to date has resulted in the designation of Tropical Important Plant Areas for conservation and the publication of an extensive Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Bolivia.
Guinness World Records Managing Editor, Adam Millward, said: “Giants of nature never fail to capture our audience’s imagination – and who would have thought that a plant as big as Victoria boliviana could have gone under the radar for so long? Thanks to the research efforts of the horticulturalists and scientists at Kew in collaboration with Bolivian partners shining a light on this botanical mystery we can finally give this wondrous waterlily the much-deserved recognition.”
Gaston Ribero, La Rinconada Gardens, said: “Victoria boliviana is a completely spectacular plant, beautifully coloured and with an admirable size. And on top it has such a meaningful name that it should be considered one of our national symbols. We will work on it.”
About the records:
The largest waterlily species is the newly identified Victoria boliviana, which in cultivation has floating pads that grow in excess of 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) in diameter. Its flowers can span up to 36 cm (1 ft 2 in) wide – about the same as a car’s steering wheel. The aquatic plant is native to the Llanos de Moxos tropical savannah of El Beni department in north-east Bolivia. The largest specimen overall is a 3.2-m (10-ft 6-in) leaf grown at La Rinconada ecological park in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, as measured on 3 February 2012; this is the largest undivided/simple leaf of any plant on record. The new species was first described in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science on 4 July 2022.
The largest waterlily pad on record is a specimen of Victoria boliviana that spanned 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in) at its maximum diameter when measured on 3 February 2012. The border/edge of the leaf stood 17 cm (6.7 in) tall, meaning a total diameter of 3.37 m (11 ft) if the leaf were fully flattened out. It had a surface area of approximately 7.55 m2 (81.3 sq ft). The prodigious pad was grown at La Rinconada ecological park in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
The largest undivided (aka simple) leaf on record is a Victoria boliviana water lily pad that spanned 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in) at its maximum diameter when measured on 3 February 2012. The border/edge of the leaf stood 17 cm (6.7 in) tall, meaning an increased diameter of 3.37 m (11 ft) if the leaf were fully flattened out. It had a surface area of approximately 7.55 m² (81.3 sq ft). The prodigious pad was grown at La Rinconada ecological park in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
ENDS
For pictures of V. boliviana click here: https://we.tl/t-UBGrlZHxiu
For more information, please contact the Press Office at pr@kew.org / 0208 332 5607
Notes to Editors
About Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world-famous scientific organization, internationally respected for its outstanding collections and scientific expertise in plant and fungal diversity, conservation, and sustainable development in the UK and around the globe. Kew’s scientists and partners lead the way in the fight against biodiversity loss and finding nature-based solutions to the climate crisis, aided by five key scientific priorities outlined in Kew’s Science Strategy 2021-2025. Kew Gardens is also a major international and top London visitor attraction. Kew’s 132 hectares of historic, landscaped gardens, and Wakehurst, Kew’s Wild Botanic Garden and ‘living laboratory’, attract over 2.5 million visits every year. Kew Gardens was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003 and celebrated its 260th anniversary in 2019. Wakehurst is home to the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild plant seed bank in the world and a safeguard against the disastrous effects of climate change and biodiversity loss. RBG Kew received approximately one third of its funding from Government through the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and research councils. Further funding needs to support RBG Kew’s vital scientific and educational work comes from donors, memberships and commercial activity including ticket sales. For tickets, please visit www.kew.org/kew-gardens/visit-kew-gardens/tickets. In the first six months since implementing a new accessibility scheme for those in receipt of Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Legacy Benefits, Kew has welcomed 10,000 visitors with £1 tickets.
About Kew Science
Kew Science is the driving force behind RBG Kew’s mission to understand and protect plants and fungi, for the well-being of people and the future of all life on Earth. Over 300 Kew scientists work with partners in more than 100 countries worldwide to halt biodiversity loss, uncover secrets of the natural world, and to conserve and restore the extraordinary diversity of plants and fungi. Kew’s lays out five scientific priorities to aid these goals: research into the protection of biodiversity through Ecosystem Stewardship, understanding the variety and evolution of traits in plants and fungi through Trait Diversity and Function; digitising and sharing tools to analyse Kew’s scientific collections through Digital Revolution; using new technologies to speed up the naming and characterisation of plants through Accelerated Taxonomy; and cultivating new scientific and commercial partnerships in the UK and globally through Enhanced Partnerships. One of Kew’s greatest international collaborations is the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, which has to date stored more than 2.4 billion seeds of over 40,000 wild species of plants across the globe. In 2020, Kew scientists estimated in the State of the World’s Plants and Fungi report that 2 in 5 plants globally are threatened with extinction.