Nymphaea gigantea

Lore & Background

The giant waterlily has a rhizomatous growth habit, with a globose rhizome in the mud and large floating leaves that are orbicular to slightly egg-shaped and cordate. The leaf stem may reach up to 5 m in length, and the leaves measure up to 80 cm in diameter, with regularly-spaced teeth along the margins. The large, solitary flowers are up to 25 cm in diameter, held on a rigid peduncle up to 50 cm above the water, with four green sepals and up to 32 petals that are initially lilac or blue but fade to almost white with age. The fruit is a berry, drawn underwater after fertilization, roughly the size of an apple and containing up to 3,000 seeds.

Reader's Guide

Nymphaea gigantea was first described in 1852 by English botanist William Jackson Hooker in The Botanical Magazine, based on material collected by John Carne Bidwill from the Wide Bay area of Queensland. The description was accompanied by an illustration by Walter Hood Fitch. The species was brought to England by Frederick Strange, where it received notices in newspapers and began to be cultivated by nurseries. Various parts of the plant are edible and it was an important staple food for indigenous Australians across northern Australia: the golfball-sized tubers were collected from muddy bottoms and roasted, flower buds and peeled stalks were eaten raw, and seeds were either roasted or pounded into flour for damper. The species is listed by the Queensland Government as 'special least concern' and has not been assessed by the IUCN as of 6 July 2023.

Did You Know?

• The leaf stem of Nymphaea gigantea may reach up to 5 m (16 ft) in length.
• The fruit is a berry that may contain up to 3,000 seeds.
• The flowers have up to 32 petals that fade from lilac or blue to almost white with age.
• The species was first described in 1852 by William Jackson Hooker based on material from the Wide Bay area of Queensland.