paler beneath, nerved, with three or five nerves springing 
from the base, the rest branching off from it; the lobes 
forming the base of the leaf are rounded, and spreading, so 
as to leave a broad sinus between them. Petioles one to 
two feet long, subcylindrical, grooved on the upper side, 
sheathing at the base ; and, while young, furnished with a 
large green oblongo-lanceolate bractea, which soon withers 
and falls away. Scape, about as long as the petiole, cy- 
lindrical, terminated by a large spadix, a foot, or nearly so 
in length! and as thick as a fmger, covered on all sides 
with densely-placed flowers, and having a reflexed lan- 
ceolate spatha shorter than itself at the base. Each flower. 
is composed of four scales, is concave, flat and purple at 
the top, which gives the whole spadix a purple colour. 
Each scale contains a single stamen, which stamens are 
protruded at different times in the same flower, just above 
the scale: Filament flat, white: Anther of two cells, 
orange-coloured, its back presented to the pistil. Pistil: 
Germen obovate, its sides tetragonal, greenish, brown at 
the very top, where is indicated the scarcely visible ses- 
sile stigma. The fruit has a very remarkable appearance. 
By the enlargement of the germen from the size of a 
hemp-seed or less to that of a large pea, and the protru- 
sion of the berries, the spadix is vastly increased in size, 
so as to be nearly three inches in diameter. Each berry 
is deep purple, obovate, when protruded, suspended for a 
time by the stamens, whose base is attached to their base, 
two-celled, each cell bearing one obovate, compressed, 
slightly tuberculated seed, emarginate at the top, and there 
having asmallapiculus. => Pook 
A plant of easy cultivation in the stove, being a native © 
of the trunks of trees in the West India Islands, and of 
the warmer parts of South America, flowering with us 
during a greater part of the year. The fruit I believe to 
be of very rare occurrence. A noble specimen has been 
communicated to me, from the Liverpool Botanic Garden, 
by the Messrs. Surpuerps, of which a portion is introduced 
into the accompanying plate, of the natural size; the 
acre of the entire meas being, of necessity greatly re- 
—— 
Fig. A. Plant reduced to one quarter of its natural size. 1. Flower. 
2. Scale of the Perianth, with a young Stamen, 3. Fully-formed Stamen. 
4. Pistil. 5. Portion of the Fruit, natural size. 6. Berry. 7. Section of 
ditto. 7. Section of a Berry. 8. Seed. eo Ses 
ae 
