Smallest Waterlily In The World Rescued From Extinction At Kew Gardens

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Carlos Magdalena, a Senior Botanical Tropical Horticulturist at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew holds a 'Nymphaea Thermarum' waterlily, the smallest waterlily species in the world with pads as small as 1cm in diameter, in amongst Victoria waterlilies, the largest waterlily species in the world, on May 18, 2010 in London, England. The waterlily grows in freshwater hot springs and was endemic to just one known location in Mashyuza, Rwanda. It was saved from extinction by Kew horticulturist Carlos Magdalena who devised a method of propagating the waterlilies as over-exploitation of the Rwandan hot springs saw the last native plants disappear. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)