Story Transcript. Researchers in London say they have identified a new species of the giant water lily plant — after discovering it had been sitting serenely in their collection for 177 years.

Seeds of the new giant water lily arrived at the Kew Gardens after horticulturalists at the Santa Cruz de La Sierra Botanic Garden and La Rinconada Gardens in Bolivia donated them in 2016.

The variety of giant water lily named Victoria appears in early summer as a spectacle worthy of Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World" — mysterious, exotic, almost foreboding in its form and size.

The ravine underwent a £3.8m renovation between 2014 and 2018 and a new pond with the giant water lily in mind was installed.. In January this year, seeds of a hybrid giant lily (a cross between ...

A previously unknown species of giant water lily has been discovered by staff at London's Kew Gardens. For the last 177 years, it has been growing right under their noses.