Who really found the "visible from space" giant water lily? Behind the Kew Gardens narrative, indigenous peoples led the way and a local botanical garden did the fieldwork

A new species of giant water lily named Victoria colombiana has been formally identified and published in the academic journal Phytotaxa. It is the fourth known species of giant water lily in the world, with leaves up to three meters wide that can also be discerned from space. The research team estimates that only 30 to 50 individuals exist in the wild, and the species is already regarded as critically endangered; it has not yet entered the formal assessment process of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and its final classification remains to be confirmed.

According to a report by The Guardian, the species has often been reduced in Western media narratives to "a Kew Gardens expert in Britain discovered a new species by scrolling through Instagram": three years ago, Kew water lily specialist Carlos Magdalena came across a photograph taken by American nursery operator Jeremiah Harris on a social media platform; Harris had mistaken the water lily for the more common Victoria amazonica. Magdalena immediately noticed that the location where the photo was taken was along the Inírida River in Guainía Department, which did not match the known range of that species. Over the following years, he tracked down the specific coordinates through satellite image analysis and transoceanic correspondence, while also raising funds and obtaining permits.

From a single photograph to personally pinning down the water lilies in the rainforest took several years and involved the combined efforts of a multinational, cross-institutional team. The report notes that it was not Kew acting alone that ultimately completed a five-day expedition deep in the flood-prone forest and, with only ten hours left before their return flight, drove through the night into a small lake to confirm the water lilies in person. Rather, it was a joint team of researchers from the Jardín Botánico de Bogotá (Bogotá Botanical Garden) and members of a local indigenous reserve. Magdalena himself described the discovery as "indigenous knowledge and horticultural knowledge coming together through social media and technology"—a formulation that acknowledges the irreplaceable role of local knowledge and on-site guides in the chain of discovery.

The report reveals that the crucial lead that finally directed the team to the correct lake came as a suggestion from the team's driver—a local person familiar with the hydrology and terrain of the surrounding flood-prone forest. Recalling the experience, Magdalena said: "The giant water lilies only slowly gave up their secrets, which is astonishing. We thought we knew everything, but reality is not like that; there is still much to discover and protect." Maarten Christenhusz, the Kew taxonomist responsible for analyzing the samples, said the species is "even visible from space, a striking reminder that there is still a great deal of unknown life on our planet."

In the short term, Western institutions still hold the dominant position in terms of publication channels, rights to issue press releases, and credit in authorship listings; yet those who truly bore the risks of fieldwork, who have lived for generations in the species' habitat, and who first possessed knowledge of its existence, are indigenous communities and Colombian local botanical forces. This critically endangered status is not an isolated phenomenon: Guainía Department, where the species grows, sits at the intersection of a biodiversity hotspot and multiple pressures such as mining, deforestation, and extreme weather events; the preliminary estimate of 30 to 50 individuals is based on limited surveys, and the actual number may still differ.

The next steps in the conservation plan disclosed in the report include establishing a natural population in a more accessible lake within indigenous territory and attempting to collect seeds in Bogotá for cultivation, which, if successful, may be displayed at Kew in the future. When a lead is triggered by a party in London via social media, while the high-risk field work is carried out by indigenous peoples and local institutions, the central position in naming rights, display rights, and conservation discourse remains unchanged.