''Victoria'' or giant waterlily is a genus of aquatic herbs in the plant family

Nymphaeaceae Nymphaeaceae () is a family of flowering plants, commonly called water lilies. They live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate climate, temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains five genera with about 70 know ...

. Its leaves have a remarkable size: '' Victoria boliviana'' produces leaves up to in width. The genus name was given in honour of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

.Knotts, K., & Knotts, B. (n.d.). Introduction to ''Victoria''. ''Victoria'' Adventure. Retrieved November 28, 2024, from https://victoria-adventure.com/victoria/victoria_intro.html

Description

Vegetative characteristics

''Victoria'' species are rhizomatous, aquatic, short-lived, perennial herbs with tuberous rhizomes bearing contractilePellegrini, M.O.O. Nymphaeaceae in Flora e Funga do Brasil. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. Available at: https://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/FB24052 consulta.publica.uc.citacao.acesso.em28 Nov. 2024 adventitious roots. The floating leaves are peltate and orbicular. The margin of the lamina is raised. The lamina possesses stomatodes (i.e. microscopic perforations).Gessner, F. (1950). Die Stomatoden des ''Victoria''-Blattes: Zum hundertsten Geburtstag eines umstrittenen Problems. Planta, 38, 123-131.Die ''Victoria''. (2013, February 26). Botanischer Garten Berlin. Retrieved November 28, 2024, from https://www.bgbm.org/de/infotainment/die-victoria The abaxial leaf surface possesses prominent, reticulate venation. In

Victoria amazonica ''Victoria amazonica'' is a species of flowering plant, the second largest in the water lily family Nymphaeaceae. It is called Vitória-Régia or Iaupê-Jaçanã ("the Jacanidae, jacana's waterlily") in Brazil and Atun Sisac ("great flower") in ...

the leaves are glabrous, with long, hard spines and the underside is red. In Victoria cruziana the leaves are fuzzy with soft spines and the underside is purple. The shape of the rims is also different.

Generative characteristics

The up to 25 cm wide, nocturnal,Warner, K. A., Rudall, P. J., & Frohlich, M. W. (2008). Differentiation of Perianth Organs in Nymphaeales. Taxon, 57(4), 1096–1109. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27756767 thermogenic, solitary, actinomorphic, chasmogamous, protogynous flowers have prickly pedicels with 4 primary and 8 secondary air canals. The flowers have four prickly, petaloid, 12 cm long, and 7–8 cm wide sepals. The 50-100 petals gradually transition towards the shape of the stamens,Henkel, F., Rehnelt, F., Dittmann, L. (1907).
Das Buch der Nymphaeaceen oder Seerosengewächse.
pp. 40–44. Deutschland: Henkel. however there is an abrupt change between the innermost petals to the outermost staminodia.Schneider, E. L. (1976). The floral anatomy of ''Victoria'' Schomb.(Nymphaeaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 72(2), 115-148. The androeceum consists of 150–200 stamens. The gynoecium consists of 30–44 fused carpels. The 0–15 cm wide, spiny, irregularly dehiscencent fruit bears arillate, glabrous, smooth or granular seeds. Proliferating pseudanthia are absent.

Cytology

The

ploidy Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Here ''sets of chromosomes'' refers to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, ...

level is 2x and the chromosome count ranges from 2n = 20 to 2n = 24.Pellicer, J., Kelly, L. J., Magdalena, C., & Leitch, I. J. (2013)
Insights into the dynamics of genome size and chromosome evolution in the early diverging angiosperm lineage Nymphaeales (water lilies).
Genome, 56(8), 437-449.

Taxonomy

''Victoria'' was published by Robert Hermann Schomburgk in September 1837.Missouri Botanical Garden. (n.d.-b). ''Victoria'' R.H. Schomb. Tropicos. Retrieved November 30, 2024, from http://legacy.tropicos.org/Name/100535949 The type species is ''Victoria regina'' The genus has two synonyms, both published within the same year with the same name: ''Victoria'' published by

John Lindley John Lindley Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidology, orchidologist. Early years Born in Old Catton, Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four c ...

in October 1837 and ''Victoria'' published by

John Edward Gray John Edward Gray (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for a z ...

in December 1837. There is, however, disagreement over the correct taxon authority.United States Department of Agriculture & Agricultural Research Service. (n.d.). ''Victoria'' Lindl. Germplasm Resource Information Network (GRIN). Retrieved November 28, 2024, from https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomygenus?id=12702 ''Victoria'' is seen as correct by several sources, but ''Victoria'' is also widely regarded as correct,de Lima, C. T., Machado, I. C., & Giulietti, A. M. (2021)
Nymphaeaceae of Brasil.
Sitientibus série Ciências Biológicas, 21.''Victoria'' Lindl. (n.d.). WFO Plant List , World Flora Online. Retrieved November 28, 2024, from https://wfoplantlist.org/taxon/wfo-4000040238-2024-06?page=1 despite being published a month later.

Species

Evolutionary relationships

Together with the genus '' Euryale'', ''Victoria'' may be placed within the genus '' Nymphaea'', rendering it paraphyletic in its current circumscription.Song, W., Shi, W., Wang, H., Zhang, Z., Tao, R., Liu, J., ... & Shi, C. (2024)
Comparative analysis of 12 water lily plastid genomes reveals genomic divergence and evolutionary relationships in early flowering plants.
Marine Life Science & Technology, 6(3), 425-441.Löhne, C., Yoo, M., Borsch, T., Wiersema, J., Wilde, V., Bell, C.D., Barthlott, W., Soltis, D.E. and Soltis, P.S. (2008)
Biogeography of Nymphaeales: extant patterns and historical events.
Taxon, 57: 1123-19E.He, D., Gichira, A. W., Li, Z., Nzei, J. M., Guo, Y., Wang, Q., & Chen, J. (2018)
Intergeneric relationships within the early-diverging angiosperm family Nymphaeaceae based on chloroplast phylogenomics.
International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 19(12), 3780.Loehne, C., Borsch, T., & Wiersema, J. H. (2007)
Phylogenetic analysis of Nymphaeales using fast-evolving and noncoding chloroplast markers.
Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 154(2), 141-163.Roestel, J. A., Wiersema, J. H., Jansen, R. K., Borsch, T., & Gruenstaeudl, M. (2024)
On the importance of sequence alignment inspections in plastid phylogenomics–an example from revisiting the relationships of the water‐lilies.
Cladistics.

Ecology

Habitat

It occurs in lakes and streams.Knotts, K. (n.d.). ''Victoria''’s History. Victoria Adventure. Retrieved November 28, 2024, from https://victoria-adventure.com/victoria/victoria_history.html

Pollination

''Victoria'' flowers are pollinated by ''

Cyclocephala ''Cyclocephala'' is a genus of scarab beetles from the subfamily Dynastinae (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Beetles of this genus occur from southeastern Canada to Argentina, India and the West Indies. Adults of this genus are nocturnal or crepuscu ...

'' beetles.M Cramer, J., Meeuse, A. D. J., & Teunissen, P. A. (1975)
A note on the pollination of nocturnally flowering species of ''Nymphaea''.
Acta Botanica Neerlandica, 24(5/6), 489-490.Seymour, R. S., & Matthews, P. G. (2006)
The role of thermogenesis in the pollination biology of the Amazon waterlily ''Victoria amazonica''.
Annals of Botany, 98(6), 1129-1135.

Use

Horticulture

''Victoria'' is a popular ornamental plant.

Food

The seeds, petioles,''Victoria amazonica'' Giant waterlily. (n.d.). Kew. Retrieved November 28, 2024, from https://www.kew.org/plants/giant-waterlily and rhizomes are used as food.

Other uses

Root extracts are used as black dye.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Victoria (plant) Nymphaeaceae Aquatic plants Flora of Guyana Flora of the Amazon Nymphaeales genera Plants described in 1837