exceeds the others in this respect so vastly. For comparison 

 Professor Arcangeli has given the size of the largest 

 congener hitherto discovered, curiously enough a native of 

 the same island, namely A. Gigas, Teysm. and Binnend, 

 the length of the petiole and peduncle of which is six and a 

 half feet, and of the spadix three feet three inches. It 

 differs from Titanum in the long peduncle, and in having a 

 broad, open spathe. Along with which should be mentioned 

 (as is in the Gardener's Chronicle, 1878, p. 788), the 

 allied Nicaraguan gigantic aroid Godwinia Gigas(Tab. 6048) 

 of this work, of which the tuber attains two feet two 

 inches in circumference and a weight of over seven pounds, 

 the petiole a height of ten feet, and the leaf ten feet in cir- 

 cumference, the peduncle four feet in length, and spathe 

 one foot eight inches. There are also gigantic aroids of 

 which little is known in tropical Africa, but there is no 

 reason to suppose that they rival the Asiatic Amorphophalli. 

 In one point alone our Titan surpasses all other plants, and 

 that is in the rapid development of tissue in a single leaf. 

 I can think of none in which so great an amount is pro- 

 duced and brought to maturity in so short a time. The 

 largest leaved plants occur amongst the Palms, and next 

 to them come the Musas ; their leaves in many instances 

 far surpass in dimensions and weight those of Titan, but 

 they are not formed so rapidly, and are comparatively 

 slow of maturation. 



Lastly, the flower of Rafflesia Arnoldi, a native of 

 Sumatra, well known for its gigantic size, has been 

 alluded to as dwarfed in comparison with that of this 

 Amorphophallu8 s but a single hermaphrodite flower of 

 Rafflesia is far more remarkable as a flower than is the 

 inflorescence of this aroid as such, and the two are not in 

 any way further comparable than that each is gigantic. 



The following account of the development and flowering 

 of A. Titanum at Kew has been kindly drawn up for me 

 by Mr. Watson, Assistant Curator of the Royal Gardens, 

 who- reared it from infancy to its full stature. Unfor- 

 tunately the flowering stage was so rapid that it was wit- 

 nessed by few, and by them at the expense of enduring an 

 atrocious stench, resembling that of Bulbophyllum Beccarii 

 (Tab. 6507), which rendered the tropical Orchid house at 



