mmibus duplo longior, (post fecundationem) rcctiuseidus cum cnrvo Icvi, 

 suhtrigono-tercs, obsolete 'S-sidciis, svperfnndiim album viridi et ndno varie- 

 fjatus; stigma areola minuta depressa pubcrtda pallidior in aplce obtuso styli: 

 genu, siiperum, virescciis, suit rig ono-rotiindum, S-loc, loculis 1-spertnis: 

 ovulum nucleus opacior oblongus gelatiiid Uuipidissima obvolutus. jEstivante 

 gpadice itd se injlectcre videntur pistilla ut opejlosculi alieni proximi fecuu- 

 dari queant, Jlosculo propria ob nimiam styli longitudinem inhabilia. 



This very singular species is said to have been cultivated 

 in the days of Miller, in the Physic Garden, Chelsea. The 

 plant is known to have been introduced into the gardens of 

 Holland more than a century ago ; and there is a sample in 

 Mr. Brown's Herbarium that flowered at Kew, where the 

 plant had been obtained from Guiana. The specimens in 

 Holland came from Surinam ; and Miller's probably from 

 some Dutch collection. Our drawing was taken from a 

 plant that flowered last December in the hothouse of Mr. 

 Lee of the Hammersmith Nursery, and had been imported 

 from Maranhao, in the Brazils. 



r 



If smelled near, upon the first opening of the spathe, 

 vomiting and even fainting sometimes ensue from the 

 stench. Linnaeus says, the fetor is so overwhelming " ut 

 olfacientes attonltos redderet et calaleptlcos" No sooner 

 however have the anthers shed their pollen than the noxious 

 odour ceases. 



The flowers of the spike are crowded together in such 

 way that the stamens are, pressed close round the style, 

 which being from its original conformation at least as long 

 again as these, the stigma at its end is necessarily placed 

 beyond the influence of the anthers of its own corolla. To 

 countervail this seeming defect, the style is bent conna- 

 turally in such way as to bring the stigma at its summit 

 into the midst of the anthers of an adjoining flower ; and 

 when tliese have shed their pollen, that organ is seen to re- 

 lax gradually from its flexure to a nearly upright position 

 within its proper flower. At least such was the process we 

 observed in the ui^permost flowers of the spike of the pre- 

 sent sample. 



The spathe is much smaller and of a far darker colour 

 in the earlier stage of its appearance than afterwards. It 

 continues to fade to a duller rusty brown until all the 

 flowers of the spike are decayed, while the upper portion 

 bends gradually downwards until it closes the whole open 



