FLOKA OF THE ISTHMUS OF PAX AM A. ^07 
great deal towards cleariug tlie mist in ivliicli the Ivory i)l:mt had been so loug enveloped. "Writing to 
Sir W. J. Hooker from Oeaua, New Gramdji, July 20tli, 1S45, he says :— " At the village of Semana, 
seventeen leagues from here, and near the great river Ma<r<lalena, I entered the mountains by tlio Paroquia 
del Carmen, and saw, for the first time, the Tagua, or Ivory plant {J^hytelcphaa). Eisiug gradually between 
two ranges of mountains of great elevation, I reached Ocana, which ia situated on an undulated amphi- 
tbeatre of bare grassy hills. I spent about a fortnight in the mountains of Ocaiia. . . . Having received 
information that my baggage had arrived at Puerta Jfadonal de Ocana, three dnys' journey from this 
place, I proceeded thither. I ascertained that the celebrated Phylelcplms grew in this direction, and 
accordingly, one day after leaving Ocana, and on my way to the Puerta, I found it at La Laguncta, a small 
settlement, and, being told that I should nowhere else have sucb good opportunity of collect iug it, I spi-ut 
some days tbere. The FhytelepUs principally inhabits dense shady woods, facing the river Magdaleua, at 
an elevation of 1000 to 3000 feet on the mountains. It is very graceful in aspect, and produces from 
fifteen to twenty piunatlsect leaves, which, when full grown, measure nearly twenty feet in length, and are 
of a delicate pale green colour. In old specimens the midrib of the leaves is flattened, but in young and 
fruit-bearing ones it is round. The plant is dioecious ; the aspect of both sexes is the same. The male 
plant is distinguished by its spatha ; the female plant produces none*, or it bursts and disappears at a very 
early stage of growth. The male flowers and spatha are produced from the asQs of the inner leaves, and 
they incline outwardsf. The singular lieads of fertile inflorescence grow round the base of the plant, often 
six clusters at one time, and the heads rest on the ground, or are wedged between the leaves, and borne on 
a buried footstalk, the fibre of which is exceedingly tough. These clusters are of an imperfectly rounded 
form, covered with strong protuberances, about an inch and a half long, resembling styles. ... On 
dissecting one of these compact heads, I found it to consist of many clusters^, with three to five, commonly 
four seeds, compactly knitted together^. Hence the name of this plant, ' Cabeza de Negro,'— by no means 
an inapt comparison, for the style-like projections resemble a black man's rigid hair. The styles contract 
to a point, tipped by a stigma, four or five inches long, and are rigain divided in as many points as there are 
cavities in the clusters. At a very early stage, these hollows are filled with a watery fluid, of a sweetish 
taste, which lessens in quantity with the advancing state of the fruit." 
In a subsequent communication to Sir AV. J. Hooker, dated Santa i\jia, near Honda, April 18th, 
1846, Purdie announces his discovery of the male flowers. He says :— " I have had the good fortune to 
detect the male flower, for which I long sought in vain. The singularity of this inflorescence is only 
equalled by its beauty. It has a double spatha; the central column is tliickly set with clusters of male 
blossoms, and forms, when taken altogether, a mass three feet long and four inches thick. Half is con- 
coaled within the spatha, from which the other portion projects in a graceful recurved form. The fragrance 
is most powerful and delicious, beyond that of any other plant, and so diffuse, that the air, for many yards 
around was aUve with myriads of annoying insects, which first attracted my notice : the closeness of the 
forests not permitting me to discern the blo.som at any distance. I had afterwards to carry the mflo- 
rescence in my hands for twelve miles ; and though I killed a number of insects that followed me, the next 
day a great many still hovered about it, which had come along with it from the wood where it grew." 
CPui-Oie, in ' Botanical Magazine ' for 1847, Comp. p. 14 seq.) ^ v i v 
In 1848 Martins, towards the end of his famous work on Palms, gave, partly from Gaudiehaud s 
figures partly from imperfect specimens in his possession, a generic character of Phytdepla. piart.. Hist. 
Nat. Palmarum, vol. iii. p- 30C), which greatly tended to place the organization of this remarkable pknt 
* This is not the fact.— ^. S. , . ., «, 
t AU this refers to the female flowers ; the male flower. Purdie does not appear to have seen untd alter- 
wards. — B. S. 
I There arc generally seven.— 5. ^S*. -n i. ' 4. ^^™ t? <? 
§ Purdie's specimens in the Kew Museum show that there are generally from six to seven.-if. ^. 
