The Rwandan water lily is the smallest water lily in the world, growing only in hot springs in Rwanda. Unfortunately most of the springs have dried up and much of the land has been cleared to make space for agriculture. Since 2010, this plant species is extinct in the wild
Blijdorp zoo, along with various botanical gardens, universities and other organisations in both Europe and Rwanda, both cultivates and researches the Rwandan warmwater lily to build up a healthy reserve population and along with the Rwandan National Herbarium are looking for suitable new growth sites to try to return this species to the wild.
