204 Mr. Brown's Account of a new Genus of Plants, 



to the opposite one ; Sir Stamford, Lady Raffles and myself 

 taking immediate measures to be accurate in this respect, by 

 pinning four large sheets of paper together, and cutting them to 

 the precise size of the flower. The nectarium in the opinion of 

 all of us would hold twelve pints, and the weight of this prodigy 

 we calculated to be fifteen pounds. 



" * I have said nothing about the stamina ; in fact, I am not 

 certain of the part I ought to call stamina. If the moniliform 

 cord surrounding the base of the pistil were sessile anthers, it 

 must be a polyandrous plant ; but I am uncertain what the large 

 germen contained ; perhaps there might be concealed anthers 

 within it. 



" * ft was not examined on the spot, as it was intended to pre- 

 serve it in spirits and examine it at more leisure ; but from the 

 neglect of the persons to whom it was intrusted, the petals were 

 destroyed by insects, the only part that retained its form being 

 the pistil, which was put in spirits along with two large buds of 

 the same flower, which I found attached to the same root : each 

 of these is about as large as two fists. 



" ' There were no leaves or branches to this plant ; so that it 

 is probable that the stems bearing leaves issue forth at a different 

 period of the year. The soil where this plant grew was very rich, 

 and covered with the excrement of elephants. 



" ■ A guide from the interior of the country said, that such 

 flowers were rare, but that he had seen several, and that the 

 natives called them Krfibut. 



" ' I have now nearly finished a coloured drawing of it on as 

 large drawing-paper as I could procure, but it is still consider- 

 ably under the natural size ; and I propose also to make another 

 drawing of the pistil removed from the nectarium. 



P« "' I have now, I believe, given you as detailed an account of 

 this prodigious plant as the subject admits of; indeed it is all I 



know 



