Amazon Adventure

The Victoria Amazonica, a water lily with giant leaves, is a wonder of the flower world. It was first discovered in the backwaters of Bolivia’s Mamore River in 1801 by botanist H. Haenke. The Guarani Indians of the area called it Yrupe, Y meaning water and rupe a tray. In many areas of South America, the lily is so common its seeds are used for food. Some Indians called it “maize of the water,” and the farina it produces is preferred to wheat.

The large flowers, which are between eight and 15 inches across, are white on the day they open, with a fragrance similar to pineapple. On the second day they change to a deep pink, and on the third they disappear beneath the water to set their seeds. The leaves measure from four to eight feet across and have upturned edges of three to five inches in height. The flower was named Victoria Regina after Queen Victoria and introduced in England in 1837 at a presentation before the London Botanical Society.

Read the entire article in the November 1999 issue