? Victoria Waterlily
Leaves of Victoria cruziana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Nymphaeales Family: Nymphaeaceae Genus: Victoria
Species
Victoria amazonica (Poepp.) Sowerby Victoria cruziana A. D. Orb Victoria mattogrossensis Victoria cruziana leaves (see Victoria (waterlily)) Caption: The plants reached their peak in mid September. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Divisions Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Adiantum pedatum (a fern... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also angiosperms or Magnoliophyta) are one of the major groups of modern plants, comprising those that produce seeds in specialized reproductive organs called flowers, where the ovulary or carpel is enclosed. ... Orders see text Dicotyledons or dicots are flowering plants whose seed contains two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. ... Families Cabombaceae - fanworts Nymphaeaceae - water lilies The Nymphaeales are an order of flowering plants, including two families of aquatic herbs: Family Nymphaeaceae (waterlily family) Family Cabombaceae (fanwort family) Sometimes the Cabombaceae are included within the Nymphaeaceae. ... Genera Barclaya Wall. ...

Flower of Victoria cruziana

The genus Victoria represents the giant water lilies. The most famous, Victoria amazonica, is the largest of all the waterlilies with leaves sometimes nearly 3 m in diameter, on stalks 7-8 m in length. Victoria is named after Queen Victoria. V. amazonica was once called Victoria regia, but the species name was superseded. Victoria cruziana flower (see Victoria (waterlily)) Caption: Open flowers may be as large as a volleyball. ... Victoria cruziana flower (see Victoria (waterlily)) Caption: Open flowers may be as large as a volleyball. ... Victoria Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) (24 May 1819–22 January 1901) was a Queen of the United Kingdom, reigning from 20 June 1837 until her death. ...

V. amazonica is native to the shallow waters of the Amazon River basin, such as oxbow lakes and bayous. The flowers are white the first night they are open and become pink the second night. They are up to 40 cm in diameter, and are pollinated by beetles. Length >6,400 km Elevation of the source 5,597 m Average discharge 219,000 m³/s Area watershed 6,915,000 km² Origin  Nevado Mismi Mouth  Atlantic Ocean Basin countries Brazil (62. ... Suborders Adephaga Archostemata Myxophaga Polyphaga See subgroups of the order Coleoptera Beetles are one of the main groups of insects. ...

A second species, V. cruziana, in the Parana-Paraguay basin which is only slightly smaller, with the underside of the leaves purple rather than the red of V. amazonica, and covered with a peachlike fuzz lacking in V. amazonica. V. cruziana opens its flowers at dusk.

A third type, V. mattogrossensis or V. cruziana var. mattogrossensis, found in the pantanal region, resembles V. cruziana except in having huge seeds.

History

A young girl (allegedly Joseph Paxton's daughter) demonstrating how big a V. amazonica is

Victoria regia was once the subject of rivalry between Victorian gardeners in England. Always on the look out for a spectacular new species with which to impress their peers, Victorian "Gardeners"^[1] such as the Duke of Devonshire, and the Duke of Northumberland started a well-mannered competition to become the first to cultivate and bring to flower this enormous lily. In the end, the two aforementioned Dukes became the first to achieve this, Joseph Paxton (for the Duke of Devonshire) being the first in November 1849 by replicating entirely the lily's warm swampy habitat (no mean feat in winter in England when you only have coal-fired boilers for heating), and a "Mr Ivison" the second and more constantly successful (for Northumberland) at Syon House (now part of Kew Gardens). Download high resolution version (1409x949, 286 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1409x949, 286 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The Dukes of Devonshire are members of the aristocratic Cavendish family in the United Kingdom. ... The title Duke of Northumberland was created in 1551 for John Dudley. ... Sir Joseph Paxton (1803–1865) was an English gardener and architect of The Crystal Palace. ... 1849 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Syon House and its 200 acre (800,000 m²) park is in southwest London, in England. ... Kew Gardens is the name of several places: Kew Gardens is a commonly-used name for the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, United Kingdom Kew Gardens is the name of a park in The Beaches neighborhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Kew Gardens is also the name of a neighborhood...

The Duke of Devonshire presented, via the person of Paxton, Queen Victoria with one of the first of these flowers, and named it in her honour.

External Links

• "Victoria Adventure" - A website dedicated to this lily
• An Article from the Gardener's Chronicle

Notes

1. ^  In reality they did little or no actual gardening at all, but employed talented horticulturalists such as Joseph Paxton (for Devonshire) and the forgetten Mr Ivison (for Northumberland) to run their estates and gardens.