Victoria amazonica

Victoria amazonica, bloom on the first night

Victoria amazonica, also called the Amazon water lily, is a flowering plant in the genus of giant water lilies (Victoria ) within the family Nymphaeaceae ( Nymphaeaceae ). It is native to the shallow waters, as in oxbow lakes and bayous, the Amazon basin.

Description and ecology

Vegetative characteristics

Victoria amazonica is a herbaceous plant. The leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The submerged petiole has a length of 7 to 8 feet. The floating on the water leaf blade has a diameter of up to 3 meters.

Generative features

The flowers have diameters of up to 40 centimeters. The flowers are in their first night in which they open, white and change color on the second night to pink. Pollination is by beetles.

Systematics and botanical history

Victoria amazonica Victoria belongs to the genus in the subfamily within the family Nymphaeaceae Nymphaeoideae, formerly Euryalaceae. Synonyms for Victoria amazonica ( Poepp. ) JCSowerby are: Euryale amazonica Poepp, Nymphaea victoria RHSchomb. . ex Lindl. nom. inval. , Victoria amazonica Planch. ex Casp. , Victoria regia Lindl., Victoria regia var Randii hort. ex Conard nom. inval. , Victoria regina R.H.Schomb.

The first description of this kind was in 1836 under the name ( basionym ) Euryale amazonica Poepp. by Eduard Friedrich Poeppig in Travel in Chile, Peru, Volume 2, page 432 ( Frorieps Notes 35, 1832, p 131). The now valid name was James de Carle Sowerby 1850 in Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Ser. 2, 6, pp. 310 published.

John Lindley introduced in 1837 in Monogram. 3, the genus Victoria on. In October 1837 Lindley published, based on plant specimens collected by Robert Schomburgk in British Guiana, the name Victoria regia. Lindley named the genus Victoria and the way Victoria regia after the then recently crowned British Queen Victoria. The notation after Schomburgks description in the Athenaeum, a month previously published, was not provided with Victoria Regina. Despite the fact that the spelling has been adapted by the Botanical Society of London for their new emblem, Lindley's version during the 19th century has been consistently used.

In the first description as Euryale amazonica from 1832 described Eduard Friedrich Poeppig a resemblance to Euryale ferox. A collection and description was created equally by the French botanist Aimé Bonpland in 1825. 1850 James de Carle Sowerby noticed in Ann. Mag Nat. Hist. , Ser. 2, 6, 310 Poeppigs earlier description and transferred to the epithet amazonica. The new name was rejected by Lindley. The current label Victoria amazonica sat thus through until the 20th century.

Under the name Victoria regia she was once the subject of a rivalry between Victorian gardeners in England. Always on the lookout for a spectacular new style with which they could impress their peers, began the Victorian gardener ( In truth, they never even gardened, but employed talented horticulturists as Joseph Paxton ( Devonshire ) and the forgotten Mr. Ivison ( for Northumberland ) to maintain their properties and gardens. ) as the Duke of Devonshire and the Duke of Northumberland a contest about who would be the first this enormous " water lily " to cultivate first and then bring to bloom. Ultimately, it was the two just mentioned dukes who achieved this, and it Joseph Paxton ( for the Duke of Devonshire ) as the first in November 1849gelang by nachbaute the warm swampy habitat of this type ( " not simply in wintry England equipped only with a coal-fired heating " ), and a certain " Mr. Ivison " as second but long-term success ( Northumberland ) in Syon House.

This plant attracted public attention and became the subject of several scientific monographs dedicated to her. The botanical illustrations of cultured specimens in Fitch and WJ Hooker's work Victoria Regia of 1851 experienced a critical appraisal at the Athenaeum, "they are accurate, and They are beautiful " (engl.: " they are accurate and they are beautiful " ), the Duke of. Devonshire gifted Queen Victoria with one of the first flowers and named it in her honor. the water lily, with its support ribs on the underside of leaves as "carriers and holders ," Paxton inspired later to build the Crystal Palace, a building four times the size of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Culture conditions

This tropical water plant has a hardiness according to the USDA climate zones 10-11. Although they can be cultivated over the summer, even in areas where there is frost in outdoors in ponds and display tanks, but must then be placed in frost-free areas for overwintering. It is usually but as annuals sown in late winter, pre-cultured in containers in the greenhouse and then maintained throughout the summer in the display tanks on. In botanical gardens in the temperate zones of Victoria amazonica is often cultivated in greenhouses. It grows best in clear fresh water in full sun.

Coat of Arms and mythology

As an illustration Victoria amazonica is part of the coat of arms of Guyana.

Victoria amazonica also finds a place in the mythology of the Guaraní, after which the moon is a sacrificial Princess Victoria amazonica, the "Star of the water " transformed.

Gallery

Hairy bud

Lower leaf surface

A newly surfaced and still unfolding sheet in Kobe Kachoen

The flower is pink on the second and last day