Crown Jewel: Victoria / Giant water lily

The famous Victoria amazonica is the queen of the water lilies. Her flower opens around dusk. Victoria amazonica has flowered at regular intervals in the Amsterdam Hortus since 1859. In the past, visitors would stand in line during special evening openings to see this enormous water lily. Since 2002, the Hortus has grown different species of Victoria in a special heated outdoor pond. This year a Victoria has been planted in the pond again.

History

The history of Victoria amazonica has its beginnings in the warm, humid interior of Bolivia. There, in 1801, the German botanist Thaddeus Haenke discovered a huge water lily in one of the feeder streams of the Amazon. The German Poeppig wrote the first valid description of the plant in 1832 and gave it the name Euryale amazonica. In 1837, Robert Schomburgk found an enormous water lily in British Guyana. He named it Victoria regia in honor of the English queen.

Definitive name

In 1850, the botanist Sowerby finally set things right with regard to the name. He put the oldest, and thus valid, name by Poeppig - Euryale amazonica - in the correct genus Victoria resulting in the name Victoria amazonica.
Victoria cruziana is another species in this water lily genus. V. cruziana grows in Mato Grosso, Brazil, and neighboring areas of Argentina and Paraguay. Victoria cruziana is somewhat stronger than V. amazonica and has fewer problems with lower temperatures.

Leaves and flowers

The leaves of Victoria can reach a diameter of 2 meters. Notable are the air-filled nervature and the high turned-up edges. These water lilies flower at night. Each flower blooms for just two consecutive nights: white the first night, pink the second. After the second night, the flower closes and disappears under the water surface where the seeds ripen. Each plant can produce a number of flowers, but only one at a time.

The Victoria in the Hortus

A Victoria flowered for the first time in Europe in 1849. This was on the English estate Chatsworth. The Amsterdam Hortus was the first garden in The Netherlands to get a Victoria to flower - in 1859. Since then, Victoria's have always had a prominent position in the Amsterdam Hortus.
In the past, the Victoria's were always grown in one of the Hortus' greenhouses. As part of an experiment in the summer of 2002, however, a Victoria amazonica was brought to flower in an outdoor pond. Since then a Victoria has been planted in the pond every year, alternating Victoria amazonica or Victoria cruziana, This year, however, a ‘Longwood’ hybride has been planted. The ' Longwood' is a cross between Victoria amazonica and V. cruziana, first cultivated in1961 in the Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, U.S. The plant possesses the best attributes of both parents -- large pads with nice rims and pink flower pads the second night from the V. amazonica, and a reddish edge and tolerance of cool temperatures from the V. cruziana.
This summer the plant is expected to flower. Like to keep yourself posted? For all Victoria-fans, the Hortus has a special text-service available. Text BLOEM AAN to 4411, and you will receive a message the day the flower will be shown to public at night.

More on Victoria you can find on the Victoria Adventure website.