Aquatic Collection
A collection of waterlilies, lotuses and other aquatic and marginal plants.
Location: Tropical Nursery and Princess of Wales Conservatory
Taxa: 91 Accessions: 441, incl. 280 Nymphaea Wild-sourced: 35%
Geographic strengths: Australia, South America and Asia
Taxonomic strengths: Nymphaeaceae (all genera; also all sub-genera for Nymphaea) and Nelumbonaceae
Notable specimens: Victoria boliviana, the world’s largest waterlily, first described at Kew; ‘Kew-made’ Nymphaea hybrids that are only displayed at Kew (e.g. Nymphaea ‘Kew’s Stowaway Blues’ and ‘Kew’s Kabuki’); N. thermarum, a species known only from one hot spring habitat in Rwanda but now extinct in the wild; and N. kimberleyensis, likely to be the largest-flowered waterlily in the world, with blooms up to 40 cm in diameter