Largest waterlily leaf

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.

This also makes the lily pad the largest undivided leaf of any plant recorded to date.

The new species Victoria boliviana, now known to be the largest waterlily species, has been part of many botanical collections for many years, but its true identity only came to light in 2022 in a paper published in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science on 4 July 2022 after scrutiny of the plant's morphology and genetics.

Until now, the record was considered to be held by Victoria amazonica, a species now known to be restricted to the Amazon river basin in northern South America. Along with V. cruziana of the Paraná River system in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, these two species were, until now, thought to represent the entire genus. However, new research into the plant’s morphology, genomics and geographical distribution confirmed the existence of a distinct third species – V. boliviana, which is, in fact, the largest of the three. A fourth potential species, currently regarded as the form V. cruziana f. mattogrossensis may also be identified with further research.

By comparison, the pads of V. amazonica and V. cruziana are estimated to grow to 2.3 m (7 ft 6.5 in) and 2.4 m (7 ft 10.5 in), respectively, with flowers up to 28 cm (11 in) and 30 cm (11.8 in). One of the largest waterlily leaves recorded in cultivation before this new species came to light was a 2.6-m-wide (8-ft 6.4-in) pad on a hybrid V. amazonica x cruziana grown at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK, in July 1995.

The research was a collaboration between Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK), Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Jardín Botánico Municipal de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Jardín Botánico La Paz and La Rinconada Ecoparque (all Bolivia).

The Victoria genus was so-named in honour of Queen Victoria by British botanist John Lindley in 1837. The plant already had indigenous names including “auapé-yaponna”, so-named after the small bird known as the auapé (Jacana jacana), which often runs across the floating leaves. South America’s giant waterlilies had also been previously named by other European botanists, including as Euryale amazonica by the German naturalist Eduard Friedrich Poeppig in 1832. The two taxonomical names were later combined to arrive at Victoria amazonica (the species was previously erroneously referred to as V. regia or V. regina.)

South America’s giant waterlilies have several uses including as a source of food (the seeds are used as an alternative to maize), medicine (it is thought to have anti-inflammatory properties) and as a hair dye (the roots produce a black pigment).