The giant water lily growing in Kew Gardens in London, the British capital, has been confirmed as a new species. It is the first time in more than a century that a new species of this plant has been discovered.
The discovery, reported in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science, was made by horticulturist Carlos Magdalena and artist-botanist Lucy Smith. In 2006, when Magdalena saw photos of the said plant on the Internet, she realized that there was a third representative of the "Victoria" generation.
"Victoria Boliviana" is currently the largest water lily in the world. The diameter of its leaves can exceed 3 meters.