A photograph shared online led botanists toward a remarkable plant that had remained scientifically unrecognized. The Colombian giant water lily, Victoria colombiana, has leaves that can grow up to two meters across.

Its formal identification followed years of research, collaboration with Indigenous communities, and a difficult journey through flooded rainforest. The story shows how a casual social media post can become the starting point for important botanical research.

A Photograph Raises Questions

The story began around five years before the plant was formally described, when Carlos Magdalena, a horticulturist and botanical researcher at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, saw photographs of a giant water lily on Social Media. The images had been posted by Jeremiah Harris, who operates a specialist plant nursery in the United States.

Harris initially believed the plant was Victoria amazonica, a known giant water lily. Magdalena, however, noticed something unusual about the location. The photographs showed the plant in Colombia’s Inírida region, where the known distribution of the genus Victoria did not extend.

Planning an Expedition

Magdalena contacted Mauricio Bernal of the José Celestino Mutis Botanical Garden in Bogotá. Together, they worked with local Indigenous community members, including Nilo Rodríguez, Jaime Hernández, and Gustavo Melo, to arrange an expedition.

Their local knowledge was essential because the waterways and flooded forest around Inírida are difficult to navigate. After nearly two years of preparation, the team set out on a five-day journey to locate plants suitable for scientific examination. The first attempts were disappointing. Researchers found only two individual plants, and neither was flowering. A flower was particularly important because botanists needed a fertile specimen for a herbarium collection.

A Last-Minute Search Before Sunrise

The breakthrough came late on the evening before the researchers were due to fly back to Bogotá. With little time remaining, Magdalena explained their difficulties to Gustavo Melo, an experienced boatman from the Indigenous Tucano community. Melo believed he knew where additional plants could be found. At around 1 a.m., the group set off through the dark, flooded rainforest, heading away from the airport despite having only about ten hours before their scheduled departure.

Their journey paid off shortly before sunrise. At a small lake deep within the forest, they located another population containing five additional plants. One was flowering, providing the material needed to support the scientific description. In total, the team documented seven plants across two lakes before returning in time for their flight.

What Makes the Species Remarkable?

The Colombian giant water lily belongs to the genus Victoria, a group known for exceptionally large floating leaves. Its leaf pads can reach approximately two meters in diameter, making the plant visually impressive even among other giant water lilies. The research formally described Victoria colombiana as a species distinct from its relatives.

Further geographic analysis by Carlos A. Pedraza-Penalosa identified a third lake where the plant appeared to grow. Satellite imagery may help researchers locate additional populations, although seasonal water levels affect both visibility and access. High water can make boat travel easier through flooded forests, while lower water levels may expose plants in imagery but leave the surrounding terrain harder to cross on foot.

A Rare Plant With an Uncertain Future

The team estimates that only 30 to 50 individual Victoria colombiana plants currently exist in the wild. That small estimated population makes determining its full distribution an urgent priority. Researchers are pursuing a more comprehensive survey and working toward an assessment for the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.

Possible conservation measures include collecting seeds, cultivating plants under controlled conditions, and considering a protected population in a more accessible lake within Indigenous territory. Such a location could also provide opportunities for carefully managed nature tourism, while reducing reliance on access to the remote sites where the species currently grows.

Researchers still need to determine how many individuals remain, where else the species grows, and what measures could support its long-term survival. Continued collaboration will be vital to ensuring that this impressive water lily is not merely recorded in scientific literature but also protected in its natural habitat.