Santa Cruz water lily - Kew Botanic Gardens

The seeds are planted in January and repotted as the plant grows submerged in water, behind the scenes at Kew. In April when they weigh about a ton they are transferred to to the water lily house.

They only produce one flower at a time which the first night opens with a pineapple scent which attracts beetles. These get trapped in the petals as it closes for the day and re-opens the following night with pink petals. The beetles escape covered in pollen but it is not the pollination that causes the colour change but the timing.

The leaves are designed to support their huge size and ribs on the undersides trap air for buoyancy and strength. They turn up at the edges so they can nudge other leaves out of the way and have spines underneath that deter hungry fish