0:00:03 > 0:00:08Of the 420,000 flowering plants on our planet,
0:00:08 > 0:00:12only a fraction of them have entranced us enough for us
0:00:12 > 0:00:16to bring them in from the wild and grow them in our gardens.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24But many of the plants we know and love today
0:00:24 > 0:00:27look totally different from their ancestors.
0:00:27 > 0:00:34Evolution and mankind have conspired to shape a multitude of diverse forms.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36How spectacular!
0:00:39 > 0:00:42This is my plant odyssey.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44I love that one.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48This is one of a kind. this is the only one in the world.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52I'm going to trace some of our favourite plants
0:00:52 > 0:00:54from their earliest origins...
0:00:54 > 0:00:58It's one of the most extraordinary things I ever saw!
0:00:58 > 0:01:03..and through their captivating stories reveal why they have such
0:01:03 > 0:01:05significance in our culture,
0:01:05 > 0:01:08and such a special place in our hearts.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22I'm searching for one of the world's most remarkable flowers.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28It rises up from the deep, dark, murky depths,
0:01:28 > 0:01:33spreads out its leaves on the surface of the water,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36and up come these wonderful white flowers
0:01:36 > 0:01:39with beautiful geometric patterns.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44It's been the centre of all sorts of religious mysticism,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47of secrecy and intrigue.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53And yet, I'm told that if I press on along this path,
0:01:53 > 0:01:56across this fairly wild and woolly English field,
0:01:56 > 0:01:59I might be lucky enough to come across it.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06- SHE SQUEALS - Look at this! Look!
0:02:07 > 0:02:12- SHE GASPS - Aren't they magnificent?
0:02:12 > 0:02:15I think I'm going to have to go for a paddle.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17Good job I've done my nails!
0:02:17 > 0:02:18Here we go.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21SHE GIGGLES
0:02:23 > 0:02:25I wonder how deep it is.
0:02:25 > 0:02:30Sometimes these waterlilies grow in really deep water.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33I think I'd probably swim just to look at this.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Just look at that!
0:02:42 > 0:02:47It's such perfection in the midst of all this mire.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50It really stinks in here. And yet the flowers are just perfect.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54Isn't it exquisite?
0:02:54 > 0:02:58This is our native waterlily, Nymphaea alba.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02You find it across all sorts of waterways -
0:03:02 > 0:03:07ponds, lakes, lochs, all across the British Isles and Europe.
0:03:07 > 0:03:12There are waterlilies in almost every continent of the world,
0:03:12 > 0:03:15but there's something about them
0:03:15 > 0:03:18that has intrigued all sorts of people.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23But what is it about them that's so beguiling, so bewitching?
0:03:27 > 0:03:31I'll travel to Asia to explore how the waterlily story began,
0:03:31 > 0:03:35and discover its role in one of the most important moments
0:03:35 > 0:03:37in the history of life on Earth.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43And I'll follow its journey from ditch-dwelling vagrant
0:03:43 > 0:03:47to the prized flower that we enjoy in our gardens today.
0:03:47 > 0:03:48There are acres of them!
0:03:48 > 0:03:51And they're every imaginable colour.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56I'll visit a festival devoted to water-loving plants,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00and meet the largest waterlily on the planet.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03So it's really deep here.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06This is the story of the waterlily.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16My odyssey starts in South Korea.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19This is the Upo Wetlands,
0:04:19 > 0:04:23a flooded basin in the south of the country.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28It's a unique area that's remained unchanged for thousands of years.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32And it was in places like this where the waterlily first appeared,
0:04:32 > 0:04:36around 130 million years ago.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44It's so primordial.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49You almost feel as though you are...
0:04:49 > 0:04:52back there, millions of years ago.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54You almost feel as though you shouldn't be here,
0:04:54 > 0:04:59because this is something that's existed for such a long time,
0:04:59 > 0:05:01long before most plants.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08I feel as though it wants to be left for another million years.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15These waters are choked with waterlilies,
0:05:15 > 0:05:19and I'm here to trace the heritage of these mysterious plants
0:05:19 > 0:05:22that look so out of place in our time.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27What's so extraordinary is that
0:05:27 > 0:05:33waterlily flowers were amongst the very first to develop on the Earth.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35And as such, they give us this fabulous insight,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38this mirror into the past
0:05:38 > 0:05:43to understand about flowers and their development, their evolution.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45They really were the pioneers.
0:05:49 > 0:05:56Waterlilies are a relic from one of the most significant moments in the history of life on Earth -
0:05:56 > 0:05:58the origin of flowers.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03For hundreds of millions of years
0:06:03 > 0:06:08the planet was dominated by nonflowering plants.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10Then something happened.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13The first flowers evolved.
0:06:14 > 0:06:20And the clue to this transformation lies here in the Upo Wetlands.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30Look! It's huge!
0:06:30 > 0:06:34The Wetlands are home to one of the largest populations
0:06:34 > 0:06:38of these waterlilies in the whole of East Asia.
0:06:38 > 0:06:39Hello!
0:06:40 > 0:06:41Can I come and join you?
0:06:41 > 0:06:43And Professor Sangtae Kim
0:06:43 > 0:06:46from Sungshin Women's University in Seoul,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49studies their evolution.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54CAROL LAUGHS
0:06:54 > 0:06:57It's such a long time since anybody helped me get dressed.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02- Thank you.- Yes.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04Thank you so much.
0:07:07 > 0:07:08CAROL GASPS
0:07:08 > 0:07:12It's coming right through the centre of the leaf.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16Yeah.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23So, one of the first flowering plants on the Earth?
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Inside the petals are white,
0:07:34 > 0:07:39and in their centre this very deep sort of egg yolk depths.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Yeah.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56So both the petals, the stamens,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00every bit of the flower is arranged in a spiral.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Is that a characteristic of all flowers?
0:08:12 > 0:08:16Before flowers, most ancient plants reproduced
0:08:16 > 0:08:17with male and female cones,
0:08:17 > 0:08:20with similar spiral patterns.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26At some point, a mutation took place that allowed a plant
0:08:26 > 0:08:28to combine both male and female cones.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33This was the first flower.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37The start of a new world.
0:08:41 > 0:08:42But now it's time to ask
0:08:42 > 0:08:46what might appear to be a rather silly question.
0:08:46 > 0:08:52Why did waterlilies decide to live in the water? What happened?
0:09:01 > 0:09:02To jump into the water!
0:09:05 > 0:09:11Once in the water, waterlilies proved to be immensely successful.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15They outlived the dinosaurs, despite their primitive structure.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26So, what passes through here? Air?
0:09:26 > 0:09:29And where's that air from?
0:09:30 > 0:09:33Right. From the leaves down to the roots.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35So it aerates the whole root system.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39I mean, you really know so much about these plants,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42- and you obviously love them. - Yeah, of course.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46What is it about them that you like so much?
0:09:48 > 0:09:52So, it's a living fossil? A living fossil.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56It's wonderful.
0:09:58 > 0:09:59Yeah. Did you see that dinosaur?
0:09:59 > 0:10:02THEY LAUGH
0:10:06 > 0:10:10Leaving his watery world, I'm heading west
0:10:10 > 0:10:13and crashing back into the 21st century...
0:10:15 > 0:10:19at this festival in Seodong Park.
0:10:19 > 0:10:25You can hear the music thumping away in the background.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29It isn't just the waterlily that's celebrated here.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Its distant cousin the lotus is also a star of the show.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38It's scorching!
0:10:39 > 0:10:43This is a place where ancient traditions still thrive, alongside
0:10:43 > 0:10:47one of the most technologically advanced societies on earth.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49Look at these waterlilies!
0:10:51 > 0:10:55There are acres of them, and they're every imaginable colour.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59They're pink, pale pink, deep pink, crimson,
0:10:59 > 0:11:01pale yellows, whites.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05Everything you could imagine, and thousands and thousands.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07What a celebration!
0:11:07 > 0:11:09And as for these, they're magnificent!
0:11:16 > 0:11:20The festival takes place each year in this ecological park
0:11:20 > 0:11:24that's as big as 33 football pitches.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29Both the waterlily and the lotus have been important here
0:11:29 > 0:11:32since prehistoric times.
0:11:33 > 0:11:34Whoo!
0:11:34 > 0:11:36A bit more.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47There's a Korean proverb that says:
0:11:47 > 0:11:51one can cleanse one's mind by looking at water,
0:11:51 > 0:11:55and enlighten one's spirit by looking at flowers.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59That's good news for me, and for everyone else here.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12Everybody's so excited. This is the climax of the day.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21It's just so astonishing
0:12:21 > 0:12:24that these flowers, the lotus and the waterlily,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28can inspire this sort of affection, this sort of love.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34People here believe that in lighting a lantern one commits
0:12:34 > 0:12:38to doing good in the world and being a light in the darkness.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57The next morning I'm up early and heading out of town to visit
0:12:57 > 0:13:00a lotus plantation at a Buddhist monastery.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06These monks take their local brew even more seriously than we Brits.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11For them, a cup of tea really is a religious experience.
0:13:14 > 0:13:15Hello.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19That looks like tough work.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23- Yes, it's kind of hard work.- Yes.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27- Why are you harvesting the leaves? - To drink tea.- To drink tea.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29So you make the tea from the leaves?
0:13:29 > 0:13:31The flowers also for tea, too.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35- Right. But different sort of tea? - Oh, yeah, different sort of tea.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41I've never seen a flower like this.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43It's just perfection.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50The lotus flower is breathtaking.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53It has a celestial crown
0:13:53 > 0:13:56of brilliant white petals,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59a thick boss of stamens,
0:13:59 > 0:14:02and an imposing stigma cone at its centre.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10Superficially, the lotus and the waterlily look alike,
0:14:10 > 0:14:14and they adopted similar strategies to living in water.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19But despite appearances, they are actually very different.
0:14:21 > 0:14:26The lotus is genetically closest to a sycamore tree, but up close,
0:14:26 > 0:14:30it looks like it couldn't be related to anything else on earth.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37The smaller cones with their own tiny openings
0:14:37 > 0:14:40contain individual ovules.
0:14:40 > 0:14:45Once fertilised, each might contain a different mixture of DNA,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49maximising the genetic health of the species.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02The monks invite me to take part in a tea ceremony.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06Each delicate gesture has significance.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11And while I enjoy every moment, every sip,
0:15:11 > 0:15:15they explain that a trip to their monastery will reveal
0:15:15 > 0:15:18just how important the lotus flower is to their faith.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27MONK CHANTS BELL PEALS
0:15:34 > 0:15:38BELL PEALS
0:15:42 > 0:15:44It's beautiful.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49GONG CHIMES
0:15:49 > 0:15:51BELL PEALS
0:15:51 > 0:15:54Look at the lotuses all along here.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58Everywhere they're used as ornaments and decoration
0:15:58 > 0:16:00because they're central to this religion.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17This Buddha is sitting on a lotus.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22Every bit of him and his crown, too -
0:16:22 > 0:16:24peacock feathers, but lotuses, too.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30And around this base, this beautiful lotus.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34I love the way it's decorated.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37It's very joyful, wonderful decoration.
0:16:37 > 0:16:43And all around the edge are the lotus leaves,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46so there's lotus leaves, lotus flowers,
0:16:46 > 0:16:47and then this Buddha.
0:16:54 > 0:17:00Buddhists believe that this pristine flower rising out of the mud
0:17:00 > 0:17:06symbolises one's transformation from the murky material world
0:17:06 > 0:17:09to spiritual enlightenment.
0:17:19 > 0:17:24I shall always remember this day and this place.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39The simplicity but the purity of the feeling that this place gives you.
0:17:51 > 0:17:57Despite the great significance of the waterlily and lotus in Asian cultures,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01these plants were not revered in the same way in Europe.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05The lotus arrived in the 18th century,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08but was little more than an exotic curiosity,
0:18:08 > 0:18:13while our native waterlily remained an underappreciated ditch dweller.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19It wasn't until the age of Victorian adventure that
0:18:19 > 0:18:23the fortunes of the waterlily changed forever.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27The next leg of my odyssey takes me much closer to home,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29to the Isle of Wight.
0:18:29 > 0:18:37It was about 180 years ago that an explorer, Sir Robert Schomburgk,
0:18:37 > 0:18:41was on an equally exciting trip to the one I'm on now,
0:18:41 > 0:18:46though his was in Guyana, travelling down the Amazon.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49In a slow-moving tributary to one side,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52he discovered a new waterlily.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57But this was no ordinary waterlily. This was a giant.
0:18:57 > 0:19:04It was at least ten times the size of our own native white waterlily, Nymphaea alba.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07Just imagine his amazement!
0:19:09 > 0:19:15This lily leviathan was instantly hailed as one of the wonders of the Victorian age.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19Specimens were hurriedly shipped back to Britain,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22but no-one could keep the plants alive
0:19:22 > 0:19:25or get their precious seeds to germinate.
0:19:26 > 0:19:31In the true spirit of the age, everybody wanted to be the first
0:19:31 > 0:19:35to persuade the Amazonian waterlily to flower.
0:19:35 > 0:19:42But try as they might, horticulturalists and botanists just couldn't succeed.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46Until, one decade later, one man, Joseph Paxton,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49actually managed to pull it off.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53And here at Ventnor Botanical Gardens,
0:19:53 > 0:19:58we can see the kind of set-up that Joseph and his team pioneered.
0:20:00 > 0:20:08Maintaining a temperature of around 27 degrees in a Victorian glasshouse can't have been easy.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13Nowadays they use swimming pool heaters, but back then
0:20:13 > 0:20:19they burned mountains of coal in enormous stoves under the pools.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22I think I'm probably as excited as the Victorians must have been.
0:20:23 > 0:20:29I feel like I'm on the hunt for some sort of exotic mythical beast.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31SHE GASPS
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Would you look at this!
0:20:36 > 0:20:39I mean, they're immense.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42They're almost pushing each other out of the way.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47Can you see what's happening in the centre here?
0:20:47 > 0:20:51Right in the midst of all these gigantic leaves,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54a bud has pushed itself out of the water.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02This is all we'll see while there's still daylight.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09These giants are waiting for darkness to fall.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Their beetle pollinators come out at night,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19and only then will the flowers open.
0:21:24 > 0:21:29The pond stirs as the behemoth buds rock gently into life.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44Slowly the flowers start to break out of their protective cases,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47and the symphony begins.
0:21:58 > 0:22:04The petals unfurl one after the other, from what seems an endless reserve.
0:22:07 > 0:22:12These Amazonian giants have a remarkable life cycle,
0:22:12 > 0:22:15one dictated by rapid growth
0:22:15 > 0:22:20and a mysterious transformation deep within the flower.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26Understanding this behaviour is critical to the unique
0:22:26 > 0:22:28breeding programme going on here at Ventnor.
0:22:31 > 0:22:36Horticulturalist Chris Kidd has been working to create a hybrid
0:22:36 > 0:22:39between two Amazonian species,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42a flower never before seen on Earth...
0:22:43 > 0:22:45..until tonight.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56It's quite warm, isn't it?
0:22:56 > 0:22:58It's lovely and warm, yeah. 30 degrees.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03So, it's really deep here.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07I didn't think I'd have to go swimming to get up close to this giant.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13And here's the inflorescence.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16So, Chris, this is the first time
0:23:16 > 0:23:19that anybody has ever seen this flower.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23This is unique. It's the first time I've seen this one, as well.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25It's a new cultivar. This is the first flower that's opened.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28Oh, it's just so gorgeous!
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Aren't you thrilled to bits?
0:23:31 > 0:23:32It's really, really exciting.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34I've been waiting to see this for a year,
0:23:34 > 0:23:37and tonight is the first time we've seen it.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40So, how long has it taken this to grow?
0:23:40 > 0:23:43It's a remarkably fast lifestyle.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45This grows in the Amazon on flood plains,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49which are flooded seasonally and very, very quickly,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53so it has to grow from a pea-sized seed through to this size,
0:23:53 > 0:23:57nearly 30 feet across and flowering, in the fastest time it can.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59So, within three months.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02- So, from a pea to this in three months.- Yes.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04Is that what it's done here?
0:24:04 > 0:24:06- That's what it needs to do.- Wow!
0:24:09 > 0:24:13These giant waterlilies have a peculiar sex life.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Over the course of two days, they change gender.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21On the first night the flowers are white, female,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24and receptive to pollen from other plants.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29They close the following morning,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33and deep within the flowers a number of transformations take place.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41When the flowers open on the second night, they've changed colour.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45They've become pollen-bearing male flowers.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51There are two reasons for this sex change.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56It helps avoid self-pollination,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00and encourages the waterlily's beetle pollinator
0:25:00 > 0:25:05to move on and pollinate other white female flowers.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11- Oh! - SHE LAUGHS
0:25:11 > 0:25:16It's... It's... Oh!
0:25:16 > 0:25:17Something like pineapples?
0:25:19 > 0:25:23- Totally. Totally unique, isn't it? - It is, yeah.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27- What pollinates it, then? - This is pollinated by a beetle.
0:25:27 > 0:25:33There's a scarab beetle which is attracted to the first light flower that we have here,
0:25:33 > 0:25:34and it climbs inside the flower,
0:25:34 > 0:25:38and is encouraged to stay because there's nectar inside.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40Can you feel the temperature change inside?
0:25:40 > 0:25:43The middle of the flower is much hotter.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45- So, I'm being a beetle now? - You are a scarab beetle.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48I'm a beetle, and I'm going... Yeah!
0:25:48 > 0:25:54It... It's degrees different, isn't it?
0:25:54 > 0:25:56Right into the centre of this flower.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00And that's where the beetles go and scurry around,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02covered in pollen.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04Outside, the beetles are quite lethargic,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07but when they're inside, because the temperature is much warmer,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10they're inside, very, very active, eating all the nectar,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13chewing up the inside of the flower.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15Right. And depositing the pollen.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18- That's right. - And that's the important bit.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22- That's what the plant needs.- Right.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25But being pollinated is only half the battle.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30The waterlily must now make sure its own pollen is carried off
0:26:30 > 0:26:31to another flower.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35This dazzling colour change is one of the ways that the plant
0:26:35 > 0:26:38forces its overnight lodger to move on.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44When it's closed, it'll change colour.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47The scent will disappear, and the temperature inside will
0:26:47 > 0:26:50drop down to an ambient temperature from outside.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53So, tomorrow night when it opens it will be red and it will be
0:26:53 > 0:26:56completely unattractive to any beetles.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59But any beetles that were inside will be released
0:26:59 > 0:27:02and go out in search of a nice, warm first light flower.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05- Another white flower with that beautiful scent.- Yeah.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09- So it carries the pollen over and continues the process.- That's right.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14After pollination, the flower is no longer required.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16It's served its purpose.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21All the petals and the anthers
0:27:21 > 0:27:25will just rot away and disappear into a kind of sludgy mess.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27Disintegrate, yeah.
0:27:30 > 0:27:36For you to have helped this flower to make itself,
0:27:36 > 0:27:38how do you feel about it?
0:27:38 > 0:27:40It's a privilege, it really is.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43These plants are so enigmatic and so beautiful,
0:27:43 > 0:27:48and they've held a special fascination for me ever since I first saw them.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53And so to pollinate it and create a new cultivar that we have here,
0:27:53 > 0:27:54it really is...
0:27:54 > 0:27:58It's such a special experience, it's hard to describe.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05To be there at that very moment, just when this flower opened,
0:28:05 > 0:28:06it was just...
0:28:06 > 0:28:11And that flower had never, ever been seen before.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15That was a brand-new hybrid. What a treat!
0:28:16 > 0:28:21What an amazing journey the waterlily has taken.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24It's outlived the dinosaurs, colonised the planet,
0:28:24 > 0:28:30and played such an important role in the history of flowers,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33these wondrous beauties that we love so much.