N. Ao Bonbori is an Australian hybrid found at the Kobe Kachoen botanical garden in Japan.

This waterlily is not in the IWC collection at this time. This information is for educational purposes only.

Here is Garet's description...

Photo of the Ancephya hybrid Ao Bonbori from the Kobe Kachoen botanical garden in Japan. It is a hybrid that they discovered in their gardens.

I asked him the following...

Do you have any information on the Ao Bonbori as to the color, year discovered, etc. It looks a bit like a dark N. Albert De Lestang in the photo. What differentiates it from that lily?

His response was as follows...

The flower has darker blue outer petals that do not fade as the flowerages. My friend in Japan (Miyagawa Kaen)is the one who sold theircompany (Kamo Nursery, who owns Kobe Kachoen) their Albert de Lestang. Miyagawa Kaen does not have any lilies that look like their Ao Bonbori
in their collection. Therefore, it is assumed to be a hybrid between N.gigantea (blue) and N. gigantea Albert de Lestang' (which the people at Kobe Kachoen have mistakenly called Hudsoniana. I have emailed them before to inform them that the lily is actually Albert de Lestang, but they refuse to fix their mistake). Those are the only two Anecphya that they have in their collection.