Credit, Mauricio Bernal
The discovery occurred at the last minute, when researchers Carlos Magdalena and Mauricio Bernal were giving up.
They had traveled by plane to Inírida, in the upper Orinoco, between Colombia and Venezuela, in search of a type of giant water lily that had never been scientifically described until then.
The two researchers navigated for kilometers through flooded forests. The person guiding them was Gustavo Melo, a member of an indigenous reserve in the territory, crossing the dark rivers at any time of the day, where there is no cell phone signal or GPS.
"A navigational genius who moves around like someone walking through his house with the lights off", says Magdalena, a Spanish horticulturist at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, in London.
"It was almost dawn on the last day. The plane was already warming up its engines to take us back."
That's when they shouted "bingo!"
A plant from the Victoria family that no one had ever seen before appeared above the water. A single leaf could measure up to 2.5 meters in diameter.
"It was crazy. Our eyes were shining," recalls Bernal, a Colombian horticulturist at the Bogotá Botanical Garden, in Colombia. "To get it after such a long trip and five days of searching was exciting."
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They named the species Colombian Victoria and recently published the discovery in the scientific journal Phytotaxa. The authors included two researchers and members of indigenous communities from the department of Guainía, in eastern Colombia.
"Victorias fall in love and enchant those who meet them", highlights Bernal. "It's a spectacular plant."
Credit, José Carlos Cueto/BBC News Mundo
Passionate species
A few days after publication, Bernal and Magdalena still seem to be in love with their discovery.
I visit them at the Bogotá Botanical Garden. First, they take me to a laboratory. Bernal has several folders under his arm.
He opens them and inside there are leaves, stems and dried flowers. Several of these samples have been stored for years, meticulously preserved.
"To classify Colombian Victoria, we compared these samples", says Magdalena. "They are different species of Victoria. So we were able to describe it."
With their giant leaves, which support great weight, Victorias are a South American genus that already had three known species: V. amazonica, V. cruziana and V. boliviana. The first of them was discovered in the 19th century.
Credit, Imagno/Getty Images
"It was named Victoria regia [today, amazonica] in honor of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom [1819-1901]", explains Magdalena.
"There were queues for miles to see it in London. It was something out of the ordinary, a plant wonder, the queen of herbaceous plants. It had aura and exoticism."
Since then, the species has fascinated generations of people. Bernal takes a specimen of the Amazonian species from the Botanical Garden and turns it upside down.
On the other side of the surface, there is a tangle of nerves that served as inspiration for the architects. It is an example of how nature, on its own, provides clues on how to support structures with the smallest amount of materials.
"Also look at these skewers. They are to prevent them from being bitten by other species", he explains.
Exceptional discovery
Victorias have been Magdalena's obsession since she was a child. He was part of the team that discovered the Bolivian species six years ago.
He was about to publish his discovery when he saw on Instagram an American posing next to a Victoria amazonica in the Orinoco River.
"But I didn't know that species existed there", says the scientist. "It could be a new species, unknown to science."
Magdalena got in touch with Bernal and the two got to work. They show the satellite images they used to locate her on a computer.
First, the planet appears. Then they zoom in on South America, focus on the forest and zoom in on the lakes.
There they are: small green pearls on the water, connected to each other.
Credit, Kindness Mauricio Bernal
Magdalena estimates that there are 30 to 50 individuals from Colombian Victoria in the wild.
"It's worrying for a species that doesn't have the life of a tree," according to the scientists.
"In terms of climate change, it could be threatened. The water fluctuates very quickly and that could be disruptive."
Both also indicate that there is still a lot to know about this species.
Answers about the world
One of the challenges for the study is that the plant lives in remote locations, such as forests that are flooded with up to seven meters of water, gigantic rivers and lakes with lots of sediment.
Specialists are studying alternatives for their conservation, such as establishing populations in more accessible locations, within indigenous territories. This measure can contribute to the protection and development of community ecotourism.
Credit, Mauricio Bernal/Carlos Magdalena
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Mauricio Bernal and Carlos Magdalena collect seeds to grow and study them under controlled conditions. But, before leaving, I ask them what the meaning of this discovery is.
"Victoria's ancestors were here before South America separated from Pangea," explains Magdalena. "They survived when the Amazon flowed into the Pacific and when the Andes rose."
"They are born and die annually, for more than 70 million years. In the middle of a jungle we haven't reached, in the middle of the night where no one can see it, this flower opens and comes out of the water, it smells like pineapple and attracts beetles."
These are plants so remote that Bernal believes they will tell us more about the history of South American rivers.
“By studying them in depth, we obtain indications of how the entire continent was formed,” he explains.
"People often ask us what it is for, from the point of view of its usefulness to man, but that is very little. They have performed feats for millions of years, they were witnesses to the dinosaurs. They have the moral right to insist and we have the moral right to understand this right."
"One of the wonders that make Colombia such an interesting country", concludes Magdalena.
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