The #giant #Amazon #water #lily was originally discovered in Guiana by the Victorian explorer Sir Robert Schomburgk in #1837, although a German called Poeppig had earlier seen and described it while rafting down the Amazon.

This led to a good deal of confusion over naming of this aquatic giant. According to the arcane but rigid rules of botanical nomenclature it should correctly be called Victoria amazonica but throughout the reign of Queen Victoria it was known as Victoria regia (literally Queen Victoria) and only assumed its botanically correct name after the old Queen died and it was safe to change the labels.

Once the first seeds were brought back to England there was a race amongst the landed gentry to be the first to cultivate the plant and present a flower to the Queen, victory going to the Duke of Devonshire whose head gardener at Chatsworth, Joseph Paxton, built a suitably large glasshouse to accommodate the monster plant ... with no expense spared.
https://gardenofeaden.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-giant-amazon-water-lily.html