Largest water lily in the world blooms in Leiden

The oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands, the Hortus Botanicus in Leiden, has a wonderful pineapple scent. That means that the Victoria Amazonica is in bloom. With leaves that can grow up to two meters wide, this is the largest water lily in the world and its flowers smell like pineapple. The flower of the Victoria Amazonica is a night bloomer and only blooms in high summer. What is special is that the water lily only blooms for two nights. Rogier de Vugt, cashier of the Leiden Hortus Botanicus, knows everything about the plant. "The first night the flower is white and gives off a strong pineapple smell, which attracts beetles. The second night the flower turns pink and has no smell anymore. The beetles still come to it and are covered with pollen", explains De Vugt.

Because the plant has an enormous size, only one can grow in the pond of the Hortus. "The leaves have raised edges, so they can't grow over each other, so they can't get any light anymore. The old leaves grow outwards and die, in the middle a new leaf with a new flower comes out every week," says De vugt. The Hortus in Leiden has a special greenhouse for the special water lily that is higher and allows more light to pass through than other greenhouses: the Victoria greenhouse. Every summer the Victoria Amazonica is in bloom in this greenhouse. And that is a difficult job. The plant only does well when the water is 30 degrees. The water lily needs a lot of light. And that makes sense for such a water lily.

In this Happy Hour we have two tasty Jukebox Giants and a recent "Do Your Hair with a Guitar". Of course we're going to call someone who has a birthday and we have a track from Paul Stanley's Soul Station's CD of the Month.

Erik's tip is:

Have fun listening!

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