SS ee 
os : 
te A 
Ns a te 
agate 
Tas. 4368, 4369. 
ARISTOLOCHIA GranprrLora. 
Pelican-flower, or Poison Hog-meat. 
Nat. Ord. AnIsToLocHTE#.—GYNANDRIA HEXANDRIA. 
Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tas. 4361.) 
ARISTOLOCHIA grandiflora ; volubilis, foliis pubescentibus cordatis subacuminatis, 
pedunculo solitario bracteato, perianthii maximi cordati extus costati reti- 
culati pubescentis tubo inflato refracto medio contracto, limbo amplis- 
simo cordato-ovato longissime caudato. 
ARISTOLOCHTIA grandiflora. Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. v. 3. p.1566 (non Vahl). Spreng. 
Syst. Veg. v. 3. p. 752. 
ArtstoLocuia Gigas. Lindl. Bot. Reg. 1842. t. 60. 
ARISTOLOCHIA cordiflora. Mutis, MS. in H.B.K. Nov. Gen. Am, v. 2. p. 118. 
ed. fol. (sine descr.) 
ARISTOLOCHIA scandens, §-c. Br. Jamaic. p. 329. 
It is impossible to do justice to the present subject in its 
representation without devoting two quarto plates to it :—for, of 
all known flowers, this, if we measure in length, especially from 
the base to the apex, is the largest, next to the gigantic Raflesia ; 
it is like that, too, in the mottling and general tone of colour, 
and, what we could willingly dispense with, its disgusting odour. 
Still it amply deserves a place in our stoves ; for a large, healthy, 
well-trained specimen, with its singular blossoms, as remarkable 
before, as after, expansion, presents one of the most striking 
objects of any vegetable we are acquainted with, and the de- 
testable scent is happily not widely diffused, Our plant was 
raised from seeds sent from Jamaica by Mr. Purdie. It was 
in that island first detected by Patrick Browne, who speaks 
of it as “the large climbing Birth-wort, with variegated flowers, 
or the Poison Hog-meat,” and it is there further known, as we 
learn from Lunan, by the appropriate name of Pelican-flower. 
A glance at a young bud (at tab. 4369) explains the reason 
of that appellation. But this species of Aristolochia is by no 
means confined to Jamaica; and although, from the difficulty 
of drying specimens, it is rarely seen in our herbaria, there 
is reason to believe it is not uncommon in the West Indian 
islands generally, and in the northern parts of the continent 
of South America. I cannot doubt that the 4. cordifora of 
Mutis’ MS., quoted by Humboldt, found upon the Magdalena, 
where “children adorn their heads with it,” in lieu of a hat or 
bonnet, is the same; and 1 am unable to distinguish the shadow 
of a difference in the J. Gigas of Guatemala, above quoted, from — 
our plant. Indeed I possess specimens, gathered by Mr. 
Skinner in Guatemala, which in no respect whatever differ from 
the Jamaica one. ‘Our friend Mr. Miers recognizes it as a 
APRIL Ist, 1848. 
