Carlos Magdalena, a Spanish horticulturist working at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew (London, United Kingdom), have found giant water lilies, cultivated there, which has been named the new species, according to a paper published Monday in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science.

The text indicates that the specimen belongs to the famed Victorian genus of giant water lilies and confirms that it is the first of its kind discovered in the last hundred years, detailing that, to date, only two other plant species are known. group.

“It has some kind of aura”

He also points out that specimens of this species have been kept in the Kew Herbarium for 177 years and in the Bolivian National Herbarium for 34 years, but all this time they were mistakenly believed to belong to ‘Victoria amazonica’.

This may interest you: They create electrical energy from plants

“This plant [que ha sido bautizada como ‘Victoria boliviana’]it’s so iconic,” Magdalena told news agency Efe. “If you had to pick the ten most beautiful plants in the plant kingdom, it would always be there,” she added.

Scientists explain that the lotus flower in question is about 70 centimeters in size. Given the size of the plant, he said that a bird could be placed on it and a person could also be placed on it. “There’s a kind of aura, exoticism, nothing to compare,” he continued.

Coming from South America

Magdalena revealed that, in fact, this species native to South America had been discovered and drawn by naturalist Tadeo Haenke. during the Spanish expedition of Malaspina in 1801, but was never described as a scientific species, suggests RT.

“You have a sixth sense that tells you something is wrong, but then when you find it, you can’t believe it. It’s very impressive. […] All of a sudden you find something that was actually found but wasn’t found either.”

The study highlights that ‘Bolivian Victoria’ is now considered the largest water lily on the planet. The leaves grow up to three meters in nature, the white flowers turn pink and have spiny petioles.