VICTORIA CRUZIANA in flower

It is the queen of aquatic plants, native to the areas of the great river basins of South America (Amazon River, Paranà). Since 1956 it has found its natural habitat in the Villa Taranto Botanical Gardens Greenhouse, where during the plant’s greatest vegetative activity (June – July), the leaves reach 2 meters in diameter. Its magnificent flowers open in the late afternoon, with white petals that smell of pineapple, and close on the morning of the second day to open again towards the evening, this time coloured pink that turns to deep red during the night while pollination takes place. The next morning they wither and sink into the water, leaving the fruits to ripen.