What Would You Name Australia’s Newly Discovered Species of Water-Lily?

Carlos Magdalena, the tropical botanist expert who is famous for saving the world’s smallest water-lily from extinction, has discovered a new and incredibly beautiful species of the flower in north-western Australia.

Magdalena was part of the team comprising scientists and botanists from Australia and Kew Gardens in London who spent three weeks traipsing around the Australian outback searching for previously-undiscovered species. After evading meat-eating crocodiles and wading through hundreds of miles of ponds, creeks and rivers, their endeavours paid off when they stumbled across the stunning new plant.

An Unnamed Beauty

As yet, the breath-taking purple, yellow and white flower remains unnamed. However, on a provisional basis, the team who discovered it have taken to calling it “peony flora”, after the sub-species which it most resembles.

The team had all but given up hope of coming across any new specimens when the small lake they had targeted did not yield any fresh discoveries. However, just as they were about to leave the region, one fortunate member of their unit spotted a narrow waterway partially obscured by foliage. They promptly stopped the vehicle and leapt out to explore the crescent-shaped waterway – and to their great delight, came across the magnificent flower.

“There was this lake with a half-moon shape, long and narrow, and it was absolutely filled with these flowers,” explained Magdalena, before going on to detail how the group had to be very wary of a surprise attack from crocodiles. “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,” he said, only half-jokingly.

Fortunately, no crocodiles revealed themselves and Magdalena was able to dash into the water and retrieve the specimen. Now the team face the difficult task of giving it a unique name.

A Lengthy Process

As with all new discoveries, the specimen must undergo extensive DNA testing to verify that it is indeed a new species and that it belongs in the water-lily sub-species. This is especially pertinent with new animal life, where tabletop electron microscopy plays an important part in analysing fresh samples.

After giving it a name, the team will then focus all of their efforts on cultivating the new flower and helping it to multiply. On the three-week expedition, the team were successful in uncovering an amazing 16 new specimens in total, all of which will be cultivated with the utmost care. If they are successfully grown, their seeds will find a home in West Sussex, where they will be placed in storage at the Millennium Seed Bank.

Interestingly, the scientists almost dismissed the discovery as a sample of an existing species that was discovered many years ago in the Northern Territory and successfully grown at Kew. However, the fact that this latest specimen was discovered thousands of kilometres from the last one confirmed suspicions that it was indeed an original find.

What would you name the beautiful new flower?