Can you be-leaf it? Giant waterlily can hold 225-pound man

By Isobel Williams

Would you be-leaf it? This enormous waterlily can securely hold a 102 kg man on a single pad.

Kew Gardens, in Richmond upon Thames, southwest London, has entered its new submission to the annual Waterlily Weigh-Off.

A single leaf of their Victoria boliviana waterlily, which is kept in the Princess of Wales Conservatory, can hold up to 102 kg (224.87 lbs).

To test this, botanical horticulturist Martin Silnevs, who weighs 102 kg with his gear and waders on, successfully mounted the waterlily pad.

His colleague Aidan Pike then joined him, staying up for several seconds before the leaf buckled and took on too much water.

Martin said: "Stepping onto the waterlily pad felt so surreal and was, indeed, a real leap of faith!

"It's all very counterintuitive to think a delicate waterlily could support a weight over 100kg, and yet, it did.

"The experience made me appreciate the ingenuity, resilience and beauty of nature even more."

After testing it, the leaf was carved up and taken to Kew's Compost Corner to be recycled and reused as mulch.

The duo also tested another of the plant's pads by loading it with stacks of tinned baked beans, recording a total weight of 81 kg (178.5 lbs) before it gave out.

The Weigh-Off, which is organized each year by Denver Botanic Gardens in Colorado, sees public gardens and zoos from around the globe gun for glory by loading up their lily pads with a variety of weights.

Past submissions have seen horticulturists use everyday objects ranging from buckets of coins and gym equipment through to their own bodies, and more than 40 organizations took part in 2025.

The results of this year's competition will be announced on Friday, August 28.

Martin added: "Fun exercises like the Waterlily Weigh-Off just go to prove that nature has a way of defying our expectations and reminding us just how extraordinary the world around us truly is."

In 2025, Kew entered the Weigh-Off with a weight of 76.5 kg (168.7 lbs), after loading up a lily pad with a combination of barbells, bricks and metal weights.

The V. boliviana is one of three giant waterlily species currently on display in Kew's Princess of Wales Conservatory.

It is the largest of the three known Victoria species and holds three Guinness World Records™ titles for 'largest species of waterlily', 'largest waterlily leaf' and 'largest undivided leaf'.

The largest recorded specimen of V. boliviana was measured at La Rinconada gardens in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia at 3.2 m across.