Recently I visited the Kew Gardens. This is a place which is amazing and is covered with plants & trees. It is a special place for people who love the flora & flowers. There were several glasshouses which contained tropical plants & trees and this was the speciality of the gardens. A place I really liked was the Liliy House. I had heard about the huge water lily leaves but this was the first time that I saw it. I spent a couple of hours admiring it and I couldnt leave it. Here are some memories from this amazing place.
Waterlily House
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The Waterlily House was designed to exhibit the giant waterlily (Victoria amazonica) but the plant never thrived there. Today, one of its closest relatives, Victoria cruziana, inhabits the enclosed pond instead. Gourds and other climbers also enjoy the hot moist environment.
Historical information
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This small, elegant glasshouse is another of Kew's classic listed buildings. its square glazed structure encloses a circular pond spanning 36 feet. It was completed in 1852 specifically to showcase the giant Amazon waterlily (now called Victoria amazonica), which had first been encountered by European botanists in South America at the beginning of the 19th century. With ironwork by Richard Turner who had built the Palm House in the preceding decade, the Waterlily House was at the time the widest single-span glasshouse in the world.
Although other waterlilies and lotus thrived in the new house, its intended inhabitant fared less well. Within six years the V. amazonica was dwelling elsewhere and the Waterlily House became a tropical habitat displaying red, white and blue waterlilies, ferns, papyrus and hanging gourds. When Joseph Hooker became director of Kew in 1865 he replanted the glasshouse to showcase plants of medicinal and culinary value. It was not converted to its original use until 1991. Today it is Kew's hottest and most humid environment, housing a wide range of tropical ornamental aquatic plants and climbers.
Things to look out for
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In the summer a giant Victoria cruziana waterlily blooms. European botanists first encountered this plant, together with V. amazonica, in Bolivia in 1801. Both plants were subsequently named after Queen Victoria. The huge leaves of V. cruziana have protruding ribs on the underside which trap air and so provide buoyancy. The flowers that only last for 48 hours are large and fragrant. They start out white then darken to pink and purple before sinking beneath the surface of the water.
The Waterlily House is also home to a collection of gourds. These climbing plants are members of the Cucurbitaceae family, along with cucumbers, melons and marrows. The species grown depend on the seed available. Some recent exhibits include the wax gourd (Benincasa hispida) and the spiny-fruited hedgehog gourd (Cucumis metuliferous). The former has a layer covering its mature fruits that is used in Asia to make candles. Its fruits are also often cooked to make vegetable curry. The latter has reddish fruits filled with seeds in a jelly-like pulp. It is grown commercially in New Zealand and marketed as 'Kiwiano', following the success of the kiwi fruit.