A unique collectible honouring Canada’s botanical heritage.
Highlights:
This is only the third coin to combine colour and a crystal effect to create
a unique keepsake of Canada’s diverse flora, with the shine of 99.99%
pure silver as the ideal composition for capturing the essence of water.
Coin design:
A beautiful water lily poised between two floating leaves with three
CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements adding delicate drops of glittering water.
Canada’s botanical jewels.
Glorious colour and a shimmering crystal effect
combine on 99.99% pure silver to create a
breathtaking tribute to the water lily (Nymphaea
odorata), a beautiful water plant that crowns
Laurentian lakes from early summer to mid-autumn
with showy pink or white flowers and round green
leaves that can reach up to 28 cm (11 in) in diameter.
The flower’s cup-like form is designed for a unique
pollination process. Each lily blooms for only three
days, opening in the morning and closing in the
afternoon. On the first day, it releases a sweetsmelling
fluid to attract pollen-laden insects that
are washed clean and fertilize the stigmas. On the
second and third days, the flower releases pollen
which is carried away by insects that visit the
plant. Then, the plant’s stalks recoil, pulling the
flower under water where its seeds mature and
are released into the lake.
Throughout North America, many First Nations
communities used the water lily’s roots, leaves and
flowers for medicinal purposes. Even the rhizomes,
young leaves and lower buds were eaten and the
seeds were fried or ground into flour.
This intriguing beauty also caught the attention
of Brother Marie-Victorin (1885-1944), one of
Canada’s greatest botanists and founder of
Montreal’s historic Botanical Garden. He included
the water lily in one of the 2,800 illustrations in
his book Flore laurentienne—a monumental work
that remains a cornerstone reference in university
botany courses to this day.
Lotus of the north
The water lily is related to the lotus, hailed the
loveliest of flowers with powerful symbolism
in cultures throughout the world. Much of this
symbolism is attributed to the flower’s ability
to emerge from the depths of muddy waters to
bring life and beauty to the surface—an image
that inspired the ancient Egyptian myth of a world
created out of moisture.
