Going down the Amazon

A touch of the Amazon in Durham…

Victoria amazonica

Unmissable currently at Durham’s University Botanic Gardens is the Amazon Water Lily – Victoria amazonica. Housed in one of the greenhouses in its own specially prepared pool, it grows up to eight feet across in the wild and can allegedly support the weight of a man.(I haven’t checked yet with Head Gardener, Mike, if any of his staff have tried to prove that this is actually so).

Close up of leaves

This water lily was discovered in Brazil in the nineteenth century and thus was named after Queen Victoria. The ribbed structure of the leaves was said to have provided the inspiration for Joseph Paxton’s glasshouses at Chatsworth and the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851.

The undersides of the leaves are riddled with amazing spines to stop them being munched by passing fish, but it is the fantastic flower which is the show-stopper. 

 It looks just like a regular water lily but is in proportion to the size of the gigantic leaves and literally is Amazonian! It is such a treat to have the opportunity of seeing it and, although the flower will last some while yet, I urge you to make the effort to view it.

 

Despite the splendour of this exotic delight, perfect for all would-be Thumbelinas, I have to agree with Schumacher, however,  that ‘small is beautiful’ and can hardly wait for the pygmy water lily in my own miniscule garden pond to flower.