of the monuments of that country. Pliny mentions it as 

 Arum JEgypticum. Prosper Alpinus ("Hist. iEgypt. 

 Naturel "), who saw it in cultivation in Egypt in the 16th 

 century, says that its name there is the Arabic one of 

 Culcas, in which De Candolle recognizes an analogy with 

 the Sanscrit one, Koutschoir ; which he thinks renders 

 it probable that it was introduced into Egypt from India 

 or Ceylon. Clusius mentions it as cultivated in Portugal, 

 under the name of Alcoleaz, and as having been introduced, 

 from Africa. In Italy it is naturalized and called Aro di 

 Egitto. Finally, the name Colocasia was, according to De 

 Candolle, a Greek one, and applied to the Nelumbiwrn* 

 under which Dioscorides speaks of it; adding that it 

 was transferred to this Aroid by modern writers. 



The part of C. antiquorum chiefly used is the tuberous 

 base of the stem, which is long and white, weighing from 

 a quarter of a pound to eighty pounds ; but all parts are 

 utilized, after being well boiled to separate the acrid matter 

 common to most Aroids. Its area of cultivation extends 

 from S. Europe, where it is infrequent, all over tropical 

 Africa and Asia, to Japan, Australia, the hotter parts of 

 New Zealand, and Polynesia. In the Himalaya it forms an 

 important article of food, and is productive up to 7500 ft. 

 elevation. 



Tubers of the specimen here figured were received at the 

 Royal Gardens from Messrs. Dammann and Co., Nursery- 

 men, of Naples, in the spring of 1893, under the name of 

 Alocasia Dussii ; they flowered in the Aroid House (No. 1) 

 in May, 1893.—/. D. H. 



Fig. 1, Spadix of the natural size ; 2, stamens ; 3, ovary ; 4, vertical, and 5, 

 transverse section of the same ; 6, ovules -.—All enlarged ; 7, reduced view of 

 whole plant. 



