Join our annual President’s Address as Prof Sir Ghillean Prance FRS discusses The saga of the royal water lily (Victoria amazonica).
Discover more about the Victoria water lily of the Amazon, including the early history of its collection and the disputes about the naming of it. You can also find out about the rivalry of two Dukes to cultivate it, its inspiration to architecture, pollination by beetles and changing colour of the flowers.
Sir Ghillean is a world-renowned scientist, former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Fellow of the Royal Society.
As a botanist, Prof has travelled and conducted research extensively in South America, with a focus on sustainability and management of the environment through increasing our knowledge and understanding of the plant kingdom.
Knighted in 1995, he was president of the Linnean Society from 1997-2000, having been made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1993. His other honours include the Victoria Medal of Honour (1999), the Patron’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society (1994).
In 2000 he was made a Commander of the Order of the Southern Cross by the President of Brazil, and in 2012 he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays and Neck Ribbon by the Government of Japan.
Sir Ghillean is also a direct descendant of one of the Plymouth Athenaeum’s founding Presidents of 1812, William Prance.
