When the world's smallest water lily Nymphaea thermarum faced extinction a couple of years ago, scientists held little hope of saving these tiniest of plants. But today, thanks to the determination and efforts of senior botanists, the plant's future seems secure. Popular interest in these minute plants is increasing dramatically. Retailers even have plans to promote these "windowsill water lilies" as the next craze in houseplants.
Known as "the thermal water lily", this tiny plant only grows on the muddy edges of hot springs in Rwanda in central Africa. A thermal water lily pad measures as little as 1 cm across. This is less than a tenth of the size of pads of the next smallest water lily. By contrast, the leaf of the Victoria amazonica, the world's largest water lily, grows up to an astonishing three metres across.
Fears about the fate of the thermal water lily began a couple of years ago when local farmers started to cultivate and farm the area around Rwanda's hot springs. Fortunately, a botanist managed to find, gather and save a few specimens. Then, scientists tried to grow new lilies from the seeds of these plants. Unfortunately, initial attempts to germinate the seeds failed. Everything seemed doomed when a rat ate the last two surviving plants in a laboratory in Germany. Fortunately, Carlos Magdalena, a leading Spanish horticulturalist at Kew Gardens in London, England still had 20 thermal water lily seeds safe in Kew's massive collection at this time.
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