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nymphaea thermarum

Rare tiny water lily stolen from London's Royal Botanic Gardens

The Metropolitan Police said that the plant would have had to have been pulled up from a shallow water lily pond.

A RARE PLANT has been taken from a shallow lily pond in London’s Royal Botanic Gardens.

The Metropolitan Police said today that the Nymphaea Thermarum was stolen from the Princess on Thursday 9 January.

They said that the plant would have had to have been dug, or pulled up, from a shallow water lily pond.

imageMetropolitan Police

The Nymphaea Thermarum is the world’s smallest water lily, with its leaves measuring only 1cm across. It was saved from extinction after being grown from seed at the Kew Gardens, but its native habitat is Mashyuza in Rwanda.

It is extinct in the wild.

The Kew Gardens comprises 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses, and more than 1.3 million people visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site every year.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the CID on Richmond-Upon-Thames Borough on 00 44 20 8721 5934.

Read: Gardaí seize stolen artefacts in international operation targeting criminal gang>

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