AQUATICS 
165 
Its 
Introduction. 
in 1820, and by D’Orbigny in 1827. The first man to excite a general 
interest in it, however, was Sir R. Schomburgk, the traveller and 
botanist whose proposed boundary between British Guiana and 
Venezuela became in after times so famous as “ Schomburgk’s line.” 
He discovered the great water-lily on the Berbice River, in British 
Guiana, in 1837. It is now known to be so abundant as to fill 
pretty much the same place in the waters of tropical America as 
the white water-lily (Nymfthcea alba) does in English waters. By 
the inhabitants it is known as water maize (“ Mayz de l’eati ”), a 
good flour being obtained from its seeds. 
In 1837, Dr. Lindley obtained permission from Queen Victoria 
(then newly ascended to the throne) to name this, the queen of 
aquatics, in her honour. It was henceforth called 
Victoria regia. Nine years later, in 1846, a Mr. Bridge 
brought seeds of it home to England. They were 
purchased by Kew, but although they were sown and duly germin- 
ated, the season was too far advanced for them to get established 
before winter. The young plants died in the following December. 
Another attempt to introduce the plant to Britain was made in 1848. 
Seeds, and with them roots, were again sent to Kew from South 
America, but they arrived quite dead. In the following February, 
however, a third and successful attempt was made. Seeds were 
sent to Kew from Demerara, in bottles of water, by Dr. Hugh Rodie 
and Mr. Lachie. They grew quickly, and ultimately young plants 
were distributed to several notable gardens in Great Britain. Chats- 
worth had the honour of being the place where its flowers first opened 
in England. This happened on November 9th, 1849. It flowered 
at Kew in the following year. The delay was due to the want of a 
suitable tank for its accommodation. 
Victoria regia is now grown at Kew as an annual — that is to say, 
its seeds are sown every spring. It grows and flowers during the 
summer and autumn, and, as winter approaches, the leaves having 
become smaller and smaller, it dies or is cleared away. It is no 
longer possible — even were it necessary, now London has come so 
near to Kew — to keep it alive through the winter, as was done in the 
first years of its cultivation, when Kew was still a semi-rural spot. 
Sir Robert Schomburgk, who measured its leaves on the Berbice 
River in- 1837, gave their dimensions as follows ; — Leaf, 6 feet 5 inches 
in diameter, the upturned rim 5 inches deep ; flowers, 15 inches across. 
