accuracy, it is satisfactory to have had, before it flowered 

 and leafed at Kew, a full confirmation of his account of the 

 dimensions of a plant so marvellously exceeding all others 

 of its kind ; and this is supplied by the naturalist and 

 traveller, Forbes, who is the only other European known 

 to have seen this plant iu its native state. He says, in 

 his " Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago," 

 at page 175, that he found the Amorphophallus in the 

 Barisan range, growing in a sandy soil, the biggest 

 specimen measuring seventeen feet in height; and again 

 at page 227, when on the Kling river he met with the 

 largest tubers ever yet recorded, being six feet six inches 

 m circumference, and the stem (presumably the petiole) at 

 the base, two feet seven inches in circumference, the whole 

 being a load for twelve men. 



Shortly after Signor Beccari's return to Italy from the 

 East^ the Marchese Corsi Salviati caused a full-sized 

 drawing of this giant to be made under Dr. Beccari's 

 supervision, and of this he presented (in 1881) a copy 

 to Kew, where it forms a most striking feature in the 

 ceiling of the fine hall devoted to the collection of timbers 

 &c, and is certainly the most surprising of the many 

 wonders of the vegetable kingdom that are there displayed 

 Ine dimensions of the picture (which has no margin) are 

 eighteen feet by fifteen feet six inches, it represents a leaf 

 ot the lull size, growing out of the ground, and under- 

 neath it two Sumatrans carrying a flowering specimen 

 lashed to a pole. 



Before proceeding to give Mr. Watson's account of the 

 treatment and flowering of this plant at Kew, it is not out 

 ot place to consider its position amongst the recognized 

 wonders of the vegetable kingdom. These may be for 

 convenience divided into the Morphological and Physio- 

 logical ; under the first of which the Titan comes, and 

 under a subdivision characterized by bulk, and the attain- 

 ment of this in respect of all the organs (except perhaps 

 the root as regard time, and the pollen, and ovules as 

 regards dimensions) in a marvellously short time. In 

 structure it differs only specifically from a dozen other 

 Amorphophalh many of which are very big, and grow as 

 fast, but they do not attain so portentous a bulk, and none 



