Smallest water lily making a comeback
Nymphaea thermarum
Family: Nymphaeaceae
Conservation status: Extinct in the wild
With tiny, bright green pads as small as 1 cm in diameter, Nymphaea thermarum is the smallest known water lily in the world.
Native to a single small spot in southwest Rwanda, the species became extinct in the wild in 2008 when farmers diverted a nearby hot spring that provided plants with warm, moist soil.
Down to a single plant worldwide and just a handful of seeds, Carl Magdalena of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, solved the riddle of how to get the tiny plant’s seeds to germinate, bringing it back from the brink of extinction.
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