Nymphaea thermarum

This tiny water lily lives in Rwanda. It likes to grow in warm water. It grows near hot springs.

People thought these plants were gone forever. But a garden grew them from seeds. Then, people found more in the wild!

The flowers are small and white. They open in the morning. Then the flowers close in the afternoon. The plant can live for ten years.

The Miniature Rwandan water lily is a tiny plant. It lives in Rwanda. This plant grows in warm mud. The mud comes from hot springs.

People thought this plant was gone from the wild. Farmers used the hot springs for crops. This dried up the plant's home. In 2009, a garden grew them from seeds. In 2023, people found more in the wild!

The flowers are white and small. They bloom during the day. On the first day, the flower acts as a female. It closes in the afternoon. On the second day, it acts as a male.

The plant has small leaves. They are round and about 3 cm wide. The fruit holds 300 to 400 seeds. These seeds are bright red or brown. The flower stalk bends after blooming. This helps the fruit touch the mud. The plant can live for more than 10 years. Scientists study this plant because it is small. It has a small genome, which is the set of instructions for life.

The Miniature Rwandan water lily is a very tiny plant. It lives only in Rwanda. This plant grows in damp mud from hot springs. The name thermarum comes from the hot spring habitat. This plant is special because it is endemic to Rwanda. This means it is found nowhere else on Earth. Scientists study it because it has a small genome. A genome is the set of instructions for a living thing. It also has a very fast life cycle.

This plant has a very neat way of blooming. It is a tropical day bloomer. The flowers use a pattern called protogynous flowering. On the first day, the flower acts as a female. It opens early in the morning. Then the flower closes in the early afternoon. On the second day, the flower acts as a male. After the flower blooms, the stalk bends down. This moves the fruit so it touches the mud. The fruit can hold 300 to 400 seeds. These seeds are bright red or brown.

People once thought this plant was gone forever. It was thought to be extinct in the wild. This happened around 2008 in Mashyuza, Rwanda. Local farmers used the hot springs for their crops. They cut off the water flow to the spring. This dried up the tiny area where the lilies lived. The habitat was only a few square metres in size. Because the mud dried up, the plants disappeared.

A scientist named Eberhard Fischer found the first plants. He collected them on April 25, 1987. He found them in hot springs south of Nyakabuye. He published the name of the plant in 1988. Later, he sent some plants to Germany to keep them safe. In 2009, Carlos Magdalena grew them at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He put seeds in pots of loam. He kept the water at the same level. Soon, the tiny lilies began to flower.

Today, we know more about these little plants. A new wild group was found in 2023. This was a big surprise for everyone. The plants can live for more than 10 years. They have small leaves that are about 3 cm wide. They also have white petals that are very small. Some people think they could even be houseplants. They are still very important for science. Scientists use them to learn how seeds evolve.

Nymphaea thermarum is a tiny species of water lily. It is endemic to Rwanda, meaning it grows nowhere else on Earth. This plant is highly significant to the scientific community. Because of its small size and rapid lifecycle, researchers use it as a model species. It is specifically used to study basal angiosperms, which are ancient flowering plants. Scientists also study its small genome, which is the complete set of genetic instructions for the plant. This genome size is 498.78 Mb. By studying this lily, researchers can better understand how seeds evolved over time.

The plant has a very specific way of blooming. It is a tropical day bloomer that follows a protogynous flowering pattern. This means the flower changes its reproductive function over two days. On the first day, the flower opens early in the morning to act as a female. It closes again in the early afternoon. On the second day, the flower opens to act as a male. This cycle helps manage how the plant reproduces. After blooming, the flower stalk bends downward. This movement ensures the fruit makes direct contact with the mud.

The physical structure of Nymphaea thermarum is quite delicate. It is a diminutive, aquatic, rhizomatous herb. A rhizome is an underground stem that grows horizontally. These rhizomes are only 1 to 5 cm long. The leaves are orbicular, which means they are circular in shape. Each leaf has a diameter between 2.8 and 3.2 cm. The leaves are peltate, meaning the stem attaches to the center of the leaf. The petals are white and measure about 1.5 to 1.6 cm long. The flower also contains four green, lanceolate sepals. These sepals are 1.7 to 1.8 cm long and have a round apex.

The reproductive parts of the flower are complex. The androecium, or the male part, consists of up to 16 stamens. These stamens decrease in size from the outer edges to the inner parts. The outer stamens are 9 to 10 mm long, while the inner ones are 5 to 6 mm long. The gynoecium, or the female part, contains 7 to 9 carpels. These carpels are fused at the base and are 4 to 5 mm long. The fruit itself is quite small, measuring 1.2 to 1.5 cm wide. Inside this fruit, you can find 300 to 400 bright red or brown, arillate seeds.

The history of this plant is a story of near loss and discovery. The German botanist Eberhard Fischer first collected a type specimen on April 25, 1987. He found them in hot springs south of Nyakabuye, Rwanda. He published the description of the species in 1988. By 2008, the plant was thought to be extinct in the wild. Local farmers in Mashyuza had diverted the freshwater hot springs for agriculture. This caused the tiny habitat, which was only a few square meters, to dry up. Fischer had previously sent specimens to the Bonn Botanic Gardens in Germany to protect them.

In 2009, a major breakthrough occurred at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. A scientist named Carlos Magdalena solved the problem of growing the plants from seed. He placed seeds and seedlings into pots of loam. He kept the water level surrounding the pots consistent. Within weeks, eight plants began to flourish and mature. By November 2009, the water lilies flowered for the first time in cultivation. This success proved the species could be saved. Even more surprising, a previously unknown wild population was discovered in 2023.

Today, Nymphaea thermarum remains a subject of intense scientific interest. It has a diploid chromosome count of 2n = 28. Interestingly, its chloroplast genomes are identical to those of Nymphaea heudelotii. These genetic details help scientists map the relationships between different water lily species. While the plant is fragile in the wild, it is easy to grow in controlled settings. Some experts suggest it could even be used as a houseplant. It continues to serve as a vital link to understanding the evolution of flowering plants.