The Magic of Brazilian Waters and the Nymphs Who Inhabit Them

In Greek mythology, Gaia and her daughter Tethys were so fertile that they produced a new race of female deities known as nymphs. These small goddesses always appeared young and beautiful, occupying and protecting different realms on land or in water.

Gaia was the mother of all oreads (mountain nymphs), napaeae (valleys and ravines), dryads (trees), and limoniads (flowering meadows). Tethys was the mother and grandmother of all aquatic nymphs, including naiads (freshwater nymphs), nereids, and oceanids (both marine).

Although the nymphs occupied all habitats in classical mythology, it is obvious that Linnaeus was thinking only of naiads when he named the genus Nymphaea, as they are exclusively aquatic plants that prefer slow-moving rivers or still ponds.

There are at least 40 species of Nymphaea worldwide, almost half of them in tropical America. Various exotic species and cultivars have been introduced as ornamentals, and some African species are now widely naturalized in the Americas.

27 species of Nymphaea are recognized in Brazil, with records in all Brazilian states and all types of vegetation, including the Caatinga. These species are popularly known as water lilies.

In volume 1 of Flora Brasiliensis, these plants appear in the lower right corner of lithograph no. 1 (igapó forest): “The trees surround the riverbanks and shade the tranquil depths where the large peltate leaves of the water lilies spread.” (Martius, 1906).

Caspary recognized 10 species in total, as well as some forms and varieties. All the species were beautifully illustrated, as we can see here.

In addition to the genus Nymphaea, the Nymphaeaceae family is represented in Brazil by two giant species of the genus Victoria. This genus was described by the English botanist John Lindley in 1837.

However, the loyal English botanist chose to honor his Queen Victoria, who in that year of 1837 was just beginning her reign. In Brazil, the species of this genus are known to this day as “vitória-régia”.

In fact, the scientific name of one of the species of the genus was once Victoria regia, but in 1850 the British botanist John Edward Sowerby realized that there was an older name for it in another genus (Euryale amazonica), and thus corrected the name to Victoria amazonica.

The enormous floating leaves of the Victoria amazonica can reach 2.5 meters in diameter and support up to 40 kilograms if well distributed on their surface. Far from Greek mythology, this species has its own indigenous Tupi-Guarani legend.

The legend is about a moon goddess, Jaci, who turned the most beautiful girls into stars. A young girl named Naiá saw the reflection of the moon in the river and drowned trying to reach it. Jaci rewarded her sacrifice by making her a star in the water. And so the vitória-régia came to be.

Fossil seeds, flowers, and leaves of extinct members of the water lily family have been found in North America, Europe, and China. The oldest traces are probably more than 90 million years old, almost justifying their status as daughters and granddaughters of old Mother Earth.