''Victoria cruziana'' (Santa Cruz water lily, water platter, yrupe, synonym ''Victoria argentina'' Burmeist.) is a tropical species of flowering plant, of the

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

family of water lilies native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, primarily

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. The plant is a popular water garden plant in botanical gardens where its very large leaves can reach their fullest, up to 2 m wide with a thick rim up to 20 cm high. although rims up to nine inches (23 centimeters) have been recorded. It can be grown in cooler waters than its sister within the genus, the more familiar giant waterlily, ''

Victoria amazonica ''Victoria amazonica'' is a species of flowering plant, the second largest of the water lily family Nymphaeaceae. It is the national flower of Guyana. Its native regions are Guyana and tropical South America. Description The ''Victoria amazon ...

''. A 25 cm diameter flower blooms for two days, arising from the underwater bud, as a white flower that turns to a deep pink on the second and final day of its bloom. ''V. cruziana'' is a

thermogenetic Thermogenesis is the process of heat production in organisms. It occurs in all warm-blooded animals, and also in a few species of thermogenic plants such as the Eastern skunk cabbage, the Voodoo lily ('' Sauromatum venosum''), and the giant wat ...

or heat-producing plant. The plant prefers to live in colder non moving water and requires warm temperatures in order for the flower to blossom, hence the plant must distribute a lot of energy to keep itself warmer than its natural environment (above 90 degrees Fahrenheit).Lamprecht, I., et al. “A Tropical Water Lily with Strong Thermogenic Behaviour—Thermometric and Thermographic Investigations on Victoria Cruziana.” Thermochimica Acta, vol. 382, no. 1-2, 2002, pp. 199–210., doi:10.1016/s0040-6031(01)00734-1. “Victoria Cruziana Orb.: Plants of the World Online: Kew Science.” Plants of the World Online, powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:605778-1. Wu, Q., et al. “Relationship between the Flavonoid Composition and Flower Colour Variation in Victoria.” Plant Biology, vol. 20, no. 4, 2018, pp. 674–681., doi:10.1111/plb.12835. The floral stigma are attached to a cup that is protected by spines, and the floral cup begins heating up in the bud, then, as the flower opens, it releases a strong sweet scent to attract pollinating beetles, then continues to provide heat to the flower while the beetles are pollinating. ''Victoria cruziana'' was discovered in Bolivia on one of many expeditions through the country by

Alcide d'Orbigny Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny (6 September 1802 – 30 June 1857) was a French naturalist who made major contributions in many areas, including zoology (including malacology), palaeontology, geology, archaeology and anthrop ...

whose presence was sponsored by

Andrés de Santa Cruz Andrés de Santa Cruz y Calahumana (; 30 November 1792 – 25 September 1865) was a Bolivian general and politician who served as interim president of Peru in 1827, the interim president of Peru from 1836 to 1838 and the sixth president of B ...

. The first collected specimens were returned to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

where they were named in honor of Santa Cruz by Alcide's brother,

Charles Henry Dessalines d'Orbigny Charles Henry Dessalines d'Orbigny was a French botanist and geologist specializing in the Tertiary of France. He was the younger brother of French naturalist and South American explorer, Alcide d'Orbigny. At the National Museum of Natural History ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3030683 Nymphaeaceae Aquatic plants Flora of Paraguay Flora of Argentina Garden plants of South America