A perilous expedition in northwestern Australia that had researchers wading through lakes, ponds and creeks stalked by meat-eating crocodiles has ended with the discovery of a stunning new species of waterlily.
Scientists from Australia and Kew Gardens in London covered hundreds of miles of Western Australia by helicopter and jeep on a three week mission to collect species of waterlilies. The specimens will help botanists understand the plants’ evolutionary story and how they can be cultivated and preserved.
The spectacular new flower, with slender petals of purple and white, was found by chance when the group spotted a narrow body of water shaped like a crescent moon in a remote area off the Gibb River road in the wilderness of the Kimberley. The species is too new to have an official name, but informally botanists call it peony flora, for its resemblance to that flower.
The scientists stumbled on the new species after the minor disapointment of checking out a small lake for waterlilies and finding none there. They were just pulling away in their car when someone noticed a narrow waterway, half hidden in the distance. The scientists clambered back out and went to investigate. When they arrived, they came upon an extraordinary scene.
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“There was this lake with a half moon shape, long and narrow, and it was absolutely filled with these flowers,” said Carlos Magdalena, a tropical plant and waterlily expert at Kew Gardens. Magdalena is best known for saving the world’s smallest waterlily, Nymphaea thermarum, from extinction. This is the first new species he has discovered.
Before wading in to collect some specimens, the researchers scoped out the water for crocodiles. The most dangerous beasts in the region are saltwater crocodiles, the largest reptiles in the world. The animals can grow toseven metres long and are hypercarnivorous, meaning more than 70% of their diet is meat.
Though saltwater crocodiles are commonly found in brackish waters, they can survive just as well in creeks and rivers, and can sometimes become stranded in temporary lakes. They are a threat to be taken seriously, said Magdalena.
“We walked around the lake to see if there were any hidden crocodiles, but we didn’t see any,” he said. “The lake seemed to be far away from the main river, so we thought there wasn’t too much of a risk. You want to be sure though. If a four-metre-long crocodile gets hold of you there is absolutely nothing you can do, absolutely nothing. It’s a case of see you later, alligator.”
Magdalena waded in and found the waterlilies in half a metre of water. Some grow in more than three metres. He uprooted some for the collection and made for the bank. “You try to get in and out quickly,” he said.
The group, with included researchers from the University of Western Australia, and Kings Park Botanic Garden in Perth, scoured the area for several more days and found more waterways brimming with the new species. “It’s very beautiful,” said Magdalena. “When we found so many, it was like, boom, bingo!” The plant will be given a formal name after DNA analysis has placed it in the waterlily family tree.
In a strange twist to the tale, an identical plant that had been collected in the Northern Territory long ago had been grown at Kew, but was misidentified as a hybrid species – a cross between two different plant varieties. The latest discovery, in a remote spot thousands of kilometres from where the original waterlily was found, led Magdalena to realise it was actually a new species.
Scientists at Kew and in Australia are now working to cultivate the new species, and about 15 other known types of waterlily collected during the expedition. If the plants are grown successfully, they will bear seeds that will be stored at the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst in West Sussex.