Native to the backwaters of the Amazon River, Victoria amazonica have been brought to UC Davis for the first time
By KATELYN BURNS— science@theaggie.org
Victoria amazonica is native to tropical South America, and it is found in the backwaters of the Amazon River. This plant is used to conditions where the water is more stagnant, the pH is lower and water depth is shallower. It is commonly found in lakes and ponds.
The water lily is regarded as one of the most difficult plants to cultivate, but Ryan Booke, a third-year plant sciences major and student employee at the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, has managed to successfully cultivate the plant.
“Only so many people have cultivated the plant,” Booke said. “So, there’s a lot of gray area.”
Booke brought the project to the manager and curator of the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, Marlene Simon, whose role was to support Booke behind the scenes. However, Booke bought the seeds himself, managed to get them to germinate and continues to care for the plant.
“The germination rate is very low,” Booke said. “It’s only around 2 to 3%, and that’s out of 150 [seeds].”
Once Booke succeeded in achieving germination, the next concern was space. Known for their rapid growth and large size, giant water lilies require a lot of area. Simon allowed Booke to use a room in the staff greenhouse, formerly fitted for cool-growing cacti, to be converted into the room for the Victoria amazonica. It was also equipped with two above-ground swimming pools.
“In theory, the leaves can get nine feet across,” Simon said. “Ours have been three to four feet.”
Despite the leaves’ sizes being limited by the pool size, the plants have still reached maturity. The green, circular leaves have upturned red rims and spikes on the bottom. Once that red rim appears, it’s considered to be flowering size.
The first of the flowers bloomed earlier this November in the early morning. Booke remained at the conservatory that night to give the public the rare opportunity to view the blooms, and the arrival of the flowers was announced on Instagram.
On its first night, the flower is considered to be female. On its second night, the flower is considered male and pollen can be collected. In its native environment, Victoria amazonica relies on a specific species of scarab beetle that is heavily attracted to the flower’s pineapple smell and its thermogenesis. In the conservatory, Booke acts as the pollinator and collects the pollen. He can pollinate the next blooms, producing a first generation of seeds.
A concern for the flower is how it handles the winter months. In the plant’s native environment, the winter is dry. There’s less rain, the water recedes and the temperature drops. The current concern for the Victoria amazonica at the conservatory is the water temperature, which has become a hassle to keep stable. The water heaters — there are a couple for each pool — are used for 200 to 250 gallons of water and the pools contain around 1,000 gallons. Furthermore, the greenhouses are old, facing issues with power outages and outside air getting in.
There have also been issues with algae and aphids, and furthermore, the plant is sensitive to many different conditions.
“If you give [the lily] too much light, it will die,” Booke says. “If you give it too little light, it will die. If you give it too much fertilizer or too little fertilizer, it will die.”
But Booke is hopeful that the plant will survive, ideally until Picnic Day.
“If I can get people to see it even barely alive, I think that’d be pretty cool,” Booke said. “If someone wants to donate money when they see it on Picnic Day, I will be thrilled. That will help me buy more seeds, get a better water heater, buy equipment that can help with amateur testing, or something like that.”
Nevertheless, even if these plants don’t make it, it seems that Victoria amazonica is here to stay at the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory.
“We have the setup for it,” Simon said. “We have the swimming pools, we have the lights, we have the know-how. All the protocols are being written down. And it is really popular, people like seeing it, people are in awe of it.”
Written by: Katelyn Burns— science@theaggie.org
