Kanapaha Botanical Gardens lily breaks record with size

One water lily pad at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens is making a splash in the record books.

The Gainesville botanical garden, located at 4700 SW 58th Drive, now holds the world record for the largest Victoria cruziana lily pad. It has an 85-inch diameter.

This is the second lily-pad record for the garden in eight years — a Victoria ‘Longwood Hybrid’ broke records with a diameter just shy of 8 feet in 2007. But the lily pad, planted this past June, will only be around until October, said Kanapaha Botanical Gardens director Alexis Caffrey.

Because the cruziana lily pad thrives in tropical climates and is sensitive to temperature changes, the record-breaking pad will eventually wither away in cold weather.

“They’ve been growing from a pea-sized seed every year,” Caffrey said, “and this is (visitors’) one chance to see them.”

The cruziana lily pad was planted after seeds were cultivated in a greenhouse aquarium during the winter, and the lily broke the record in late August. Caffrey attributes the pad’s large size to the murky, organic soil it was planted in and a heavy amount of fertilizer.

“I would suspect it could hold a small child,” said Michael Kane, a professor in the UF Environmental Horticulture Department. “They’re pretty resilient.”

Caffrey said she hopes a lot of people come to see the lily pad before winter comes. As of press time, a Facebook post about the record has received about 1,200 likes.

“We’ve gotten a lot of publicity,” she said. “I tell everyone that comes in to go to the boardwalk (where the lily can be seen from).”