Some time ago, the staff of Kew Garden in the United Kingdom discovered a new species of Wang Lian, with a leaf diameter of up to 3.2 m, which refreshed the new record for the leaf diameter of Wang Lian, which was named Victoria Boliviana.
Huge leaves have always been one of the powerful tools for Wang Lian to attract the attention of the public, and the size of the blade is also directly related to the bearing capacity, generally speaking, the diameter of the blade reaches 1.5 m to bear more than 60 kg, the report of the Bolivian Wang Lian came out, for those with a large weight base, sitting on the Wang Lian, is no longer a dream!
Is it a coincidence that the genus Victoria is a collective name for the Nymphaeaceae plant, and the Latin genus name of the lotus is Victoria, which has the same name as the Queen of England? Of course not, this has to mention how Wang Lian was discovered.
Queen Victoria's "Coronation"
Wang Lian's discovery is legendary.
In 1801, bohemian botanist and natural scientist Tadeá Haenke first discovered the lotus in the Mamore River, a tributary of the Amazon, but no record was left.
In 1819-1825, the French botanist Aime Bonpland and the German natural scientist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt discovered the lotus in Colenster, Argentina, and sent the seeds and their full descriptions to France.
In 1828, the French naturalist Alcide D' Orbigny met Wang Lian in Paraguay and delivered some specimens and drawings to France. In 1832, he met Wang Lian again in Bolivia.
In 1832, Eduard Friedrich Poeppig discovered the lotus in the rainforest of the Amazon Basin, believing that it belonged to the same genus as the asian-native qi shi, named it Euryale amazonica for the first time, and sent back specimens and portraits to France.
In mid-July 1837, Robert Hermann Schomburgk, a German sent to Guyana on a geographical and natural resources survey funded by the Royal Geographical Society, submitted specimens, plant portraits, and morphological descriptions of Wang Lian to the Royal Geographical Society. This was the most important discovery of Wang Lian, when Princess Victoria was about to succeed to the throne as the new Queen, and the Royal Geographical Society of The United Kingdom on the one hand presented this newly discovered strange species as a congratulatory gift to the Queen, requesting that it be named after the Queen and obtaining approval, on the other hand, it also allowed the British botanist and horticulturist John Lindley to identify and name the specimen and establish the genus Victoria.
Map of the habitat and growth status of the wang lotus (Image source: Hooker et al., 1847)
Painting of the leaves and flowers of the lotus (Image: Hooker et al., 1847)
Germplasm resources of Wang Lian
The genus consists of three species, namely the Cruz King Lotus (V. cruziana), AmazonIan Wang Lian (V. amazonica) and the above-mentioned Bolivian king lotus (V. boliviana）。 The three are very different in form.
The leaves of the Bolivian king lotus can reach a diameter of 3.2 m, the Cruz king lotus is 2.4 m, and the Amazon king lotus is 2.3 m, the former becoming a veritable king lotus.
We know that the leaf edge of the king lotus has a curled edge, generally vertically rolled up, the edge of the leaves of the Cruz king lotus will also stretch outward, the Bolivian king lotus will some stretch outwards, some will curl inward, and the Amazon king lotus will not stretch nor roll inside.
In terms of leaf edge curl height, cruz king lotus is the highest, followed by Bolivian king lotus, and Amazon king lotus is the second.
In the case of the distal axial surface thorns of the sepals, the Amazon king lotus has the most thorns, the Cruz king lotus has no thorns or only has thorns within one-third of the base, and the Bolivian king lotus has no thorns or fewer thorns.
On the inner petal color of the first day of flowering, both cruz and Bolivian king lotus are white, while the Amazon king lotus is dark red/reddish brown. Let's take a look at what these 3 kinds of wang lotuses look like.
P1: Cruz Wang Lian; P2: Amazon Wang Lian; P3: Bolivian King Lotus. (A-C, flower buds; D-E, flowering on the first day; F-G, flowering the next day; H, growing environment; I, Seeds) (Image: Smith et al., 2022)
Kao naturally has the "power of the king"
Many times the interest of plants is reflected in the ability to interact with people, such as the leaves of mimosa will close when people touch, and the fun of Wang Lian is more reflected in the huge bearing capacity of its leaves, I don't know when it started, "can sit people" has become a popular word for everyone to introduce Wang Lian. What is the load-bearing capacity of Wang Lian's leaves? What does its load-bearing capacity have to do with it?
Let's briefly test the load-bearing capacity of Wang Lian's leaves.
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Wang Lian load-bearing test video
Generally speaking, the 1.5 m diameter and no damage to the Wang Lian leaf load bearing 60 kg is no problem, of course, we also saw that the Wang Lian leaf in the video is cushioned with a board, which is to disperse the pressure and make the blade evenly stressed. Therefore, although your weight is within the bearable range of Wang Lian's leaves, you can't easily get off your feet, otherwise there will be a danger of stepping on the air. Don't step on wang lian in the wild.
The load-bearing capacity of Wanglian leaves is also related to many other factors. The leaf edge of Wang Lian has a curl edge, and when loaded, the leaf edge can block water from entering the leaf and ensure that the leaf drainage generates buoyancy.
The back of the leaf of The King Lotus is covered with hard thorns, preventing aquatic organisms such as fish from nibbling on the leaves, further ensuring the integrity of the leaves and veins.
Wang Lianye's back (Image source: Zhang Yan)
Hard spines on Wang Lian's veins (Image: Zhang Yan)
There is also a point that the leaf vein structure of Wang Lian is more special, the thick main vein and several branches in the leaf vein form a strong support structure, the leaf vein bulge is grid-like, which can support the entire leaf and disperse the bearing capacity, the leaf vein is thick and thick, hollow, reducing its own weight at the same time, and further increasing the buoyancy.
Cross-section of Wang Lian's leaf vein (Image source: Zhang Yan)
Wang Lian's pollination mystery
In addition to the attractive appearance of the large leaves, the flowers of the lotus will also "change their face" and change their color from white to pink or purple red, which can also help it attract insects to pollinate.
Wang Lian's flowers go through the process of "two openings and two combinations". The first opening of a single flower begins around 20:00 at night, when the pistils mature and the petals are white. When the lotus flowers, its heart will also produce heat, which will not only promote the better dissemination of floral fragrance, but also provide a warm home for pollinating insects.
The next morning, Wang Lian's flowers began to close, and the attracted insects were closed inside the flowers. The next day the flowers open again around 15:00 p.m., at which point the petals turn pink or purple red, the anthers slowly ripen and attach the pollen to insects that are anxious to escape from the flowers. Insects fly out to carry pollen into other newly blooming flowers, completing the pollination process. On the morning of the third day, the flowers of wang lian will slowly close again, and then sink into the water to give birth to the next generation.
Changes in the color of Cruz Wang Lian and Amazon Wang Lian (Image source: Wu Qian)
In the process of opening and closing of the flowers, the fragrance emitted by the king lotus is also different. The first day of opening of the king lotus will release a rich fragrance similar to the white orchid, the study found that the main volatile substance component of the first day of opening of the king lotus is benzyl alcohol-based benzene ring compound, with the second opening, the proportion of benzene ring compound decreased, the proportion of methyl acetate increased, resulting in changes in floral fragrance. The coordination of flower color and floral fragrance allows Wang Lotus to better pollinate in the native area and reproduce, which is also an important reason why it can survive on the earth to this day.
Because Wang Lian blooms at night, it is relatively difficult to see the blooming style of its first day of opening, but its flowers after changing color the next day are also very beautiful. Of course, the weather is also very important to see the beautiful King Lotus.
To give you a small tip to appreciate Wang Lian, it is best to appreciate Wang Lian on a cloudy day or rainy evening, because if the sun is strong, in addition to people being "burned", the petals and leaves will also be "burned".
Cruz Wang Lian in the rain (Image source: Wu Qian)
Finally, in fact, to see Wang Lian does not need to go to the United Kingdom, the National Botanical Garden Wang Lian Ornamental Place: South Garden Aquatic and Vine Plant Area, Exhibition Greenhouse (Aquatic Plant Room), ready to wait for you ~ ~ ~ ~
Bibliography:
[1] Hooker W J, Fitch W H, et al. 1847. Description of Victoria regia or great water lily of south America [M]. London: Reeve Brothers.
[2] Jiang Y F, Liu G H, et al. 2021. Biosynthesis and emission of methyl hexanoate, the major constituent of floral scent of a night-blooming water lily Victoria cruziana. Phytochemistry, 191: 112899.
[3] Schimpf N G, Terblanche J S, et al. 2017. Respiration, thermogenesis, and thermoregulation of Victoria cruziana flowers. Aquatic Botany, 138: 37-44.
[4] Smith L T, Magdalena C, et al. 2022. Revised species delimitation in the giant water lily genus Victoria (Nymphaeaceae) confirms a new species and has implications for its conservation. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13: 883151.
[5] Wu Q, Li P C, et al. 2018. Relationship between the flavonoid composition and flower colour variation in Victoria. Plant Biology, 20: 674-681.
Huang Shicai,Wu Fuchuan. 2018. The secret of Wang Lian's ability to bear weights. Flowers, 3: 6-7.
[7] Li Shujuan, Wei Qian, etc. Establishment of the taxonomic status of the plant of Victoria. Chinese Journal of Nature, 39(4): 293-298.
Review: Researcher Wang Liangsheng
Author Affilications:Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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