The Victoria amazonica has very large leaves, up to 3 m (10 ft) in diameter, that float on the water's surface on a submerged stalk, 7–8 m (23–26 ft) in length. It is the largest waterlily in the world. V. amazonica is native to the shallow waters of the Amazon River basin, such as oxbow lakes and bayous. Flowers take up to 48 hours to fully open. The flowers are white the first night they are open and become pink the second night. They are up to 40 cm (16 in) in diameter, and are pollinated by beetles. This process was described in detail by Sir Ghillean Prance and Jorge Arius. The species was once called Victoria regia after Queen Victoria, but the name was superseded. It is depicted in the Guyanese coat of arms.
An earlier account of the species, Euryale amazonica by Eduard Friedrich Poeppig, in 1832 described an affinity with Euryale ferox. A collection and description was also made by the French botanist Aimé Bonpland in 1825.In 1850 James De Carle Sowerby recognised Poeppig's earlier description and transferred its epithet amazonica. The new name was rejected by Lindley. The current name, Victoria amazonica, did not come into widespread use until the twentieth century.
The species captured the imagination of the public, and was the subject of several dedicated monographs. The botanical illustrations of cultivated specimens in Fitch and W.J. Hooker's 1851 work Victoria Regia received critical acclaim in the Athenaeum, "they are accurate, and they are beautiful". The Duke of Devonshire presented Queen Victoria with one of the first of these flowers, and named it in her honour. The lily, with ribbed undersurface and leaves veining "like transverse girders and supports", was Paxton's inspiration for The Crystal Palace, a building four times the size of St. Peter's in Rome.
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