A waterlily that has been residing in Kew Gardens for 177 years has been revealed to be a brand new species, and the world's largest. World's largest waterlily species and 'botanical wonder of the world' has been found in Kew Gardens | Daily Mail Online Revised Species Delimitation in the Giant Water Lily Genus Victoria (Nymphaeaceae) Confirms a New Species and Has Implications for Its Conservation Newly identified waterlily species is world’s largest
Actually discovered in Bolivia with assistance from Kew Gardens . . . but that's the jingoistic UK press for you :-/
Indeed! Looks like it has been 'hiding in plain sight' for decades, overlooked because of its similarity to the other species.
This plant came up on my facebook feed, at Facebook, as part of a trip report to Kew by Karl Gercens, Conservatory Manager at Longwood Gardens outside Philadelphia, whose job seems to be to travel to every garden everywhere to make sure Longwood is not missing out on anything. He posts wonderful annotated photos from current garden visits almost every day, and almost all the plants he posts are named. There's a great photo of the newly distinguished Victoria boliviana huge flower at Scientists discover a new species of giant water lily that can grow up to 3 metres wide | CBC Radio. That page also links to @togata57 's second link at frontiersin.org, which is the original research article, not behind a firewall, well-written and very readable.
Yes - I first saw his flickrstream years and years ago - he's been doing that for over a decade. One of the most enviable jobs in the world I think!
