A chance sighting of photos on Instagram, then a five-day expedition, including a last-minute, late-night detour in a Colombian rainforest — that’s what it took for researchers to confirm a new-to-science species of giant water lily. The plant has such large leaves the researchers could also spot it from space, according to a new study.
The saga started in 2021, when giant-water-lily expert Carlos Magdalena came across photos posted by Jeremiah Harris on Instagram. In the photos, Harris, who runs a carnivorous-plant nursery in the U.S., was swimming next to giant water lily leaves in Colombia’s Inírida River.
Harris had labelled the plant a wild individual of Victoria amazonica, but Magdalena knew that no known species of South American giant water lilies from the genus Victoria had previously been reported from the Orinoco Basin, of which the Inírida River is a tributary.
“So the moment I saw the picture on Instagram with a geolocation on Inírida I realized it was remarkable,” Magdalena, a botanical and scientific research horticulturist at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, U.K., told Mongabay by email.
Intrigued, Magdalena turned to satellite imagery. Giant water lilies have massive, circular leaves, more than 3 meters (10 feet) in diameter, and Magdalena spotted several Victoria floating pads in the Inírida and nearby lakes. This confirmed there were more Victoria water lilies in that river system.
Magdalena then formed a team with researchers, as well as with Nilo Rodríguez, Jaime Hernández, and Gustavo Melo, members of the Río Atabapo, Caranacoa-Yurí-Laguna Morocoto, and Puinave-Piapoco el Paujil Indigenous reserves.
Together, they set out on a five-day expedition into Inírida’s flooded rainforest. By the end of the expedition, they had located two plants, but those didn’t have flowers, which researchers need to identify species. It was only on their last night, with just 10 hours to go, that Melo guided them to a small lake deep in the rainforest, where they found a second population of Victoria plants, including one that was in flower.
The researchers eventually confirmed the giant water lilies in the Inírida were indeed new to science. They’ve named it Victoria colombiana. Its leaves can be up to 2 metres (6.6 feet) wide.
Magdalena said partnering with Rodríguez, Hernández, and Melo “was quintessential.”
“Their knowledge of the area is incredible, but also, they had legendary navigation skills in a rather thick flooded forest where GPS knowledge or mobile connectivity was simply not there,” he said. “To say that this research would have not been possible without their support and help, is an understatement.”
Magdalena added that Inírida’s giant water lily remained unknown to science despite its size because it’s “incredibly rare and grows in places that are not often visited by people, let alone science.”
The researchers estimate there may only be about 30-50 wild V. colombiana plants, making it critically endangered.
Magdalena said his team is trying to collect its seeds to propagate in botanic gardens and near the Indigenous communities.
Banner image: Carlos Magdalena with Victoria colombiana’s leaves. Image courtesy of Mauricio Bernal.
