In the Botanical Garden, visitors can now see the smallest water lily in the world. The tropical rainforest exhibition in the Fata Morgana greenhouse, where the dwarf water lily is located, can be visited every Tuesday to Sunday. This aquatic plant no longer exists in the wild. ČTK was informed about this by the press spokesperson of the Prague Botanic Garden, Michaela Bičíková.

The dwarf water lily, a plant measuring up to 15 centimeters, used to grow in the only watery place in the world, a hot spring in Rwanda. In 2008, however, it completely disappeared from the wild. One of the places where it can now be seen is the Prague Botanical Garden, said Bičíková.

“An important role of botanical gardens is the protection of the gene pool of plants. It is about preserving plants that are rare and endangered, as well as about maintaining the gene pool of such species that no longer occur in nature at all,” said Vlastimil Rybka, deputy of the specialist department of the botanical garden. According to him, the dwarf water lily is an example. “Here in we have been growing it in the botanical garden since October 2018. It also bloomed regularly in our growing facilities. We have now decided to show the specimens available to visitors as well,” he said.

According to him, the cultivation of the dwarf water lily had already started in Germany and Great Britain. Since it was found, this plant has been threatened with extinction, he added.

A dwarf water lily leaf can measure one to two centimeters. The plant has tiny white-yellow flowers that open in the morning and close in the afternoon. He can divorce at any time of the year. In the botanical garden in Troja, it can still bloom in December.

advertisement