104 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
grew rapidly, in May one of them filling a shallow tank 
nine feet in diameter. Application was now made to the 
Commissioners of Woods and Forests for a large tank to 
grow it in, and accordingly slate sides ten feet high were 
put up, forming a tank on the slate floor of the Orchid House. 
A tank was thus formed 25 feet long by 11 feet wide, and 
on the 21st of August mould was placed in the center, and 
a plant planted, which grew rapidly, and on November 24th 
produced a flower bud, which on account of dull weather of 
that season of the year did not come to perfection. 
“A plant having been early in the spring promised to 
the Duke of Devonshire, provided he had a proper tank for 
it, he quickly had one prepared, and on the 3d of August, 
1849, our second sized plant was given to Mr. Paxton, and 
the next day planted in his tank. It thus had about three 
weeks’ start of Kew, and flowered on the 9th of November. 
“During the winter these first plants at Kew gradually 
dwindled away and died, but having a stock of young plants 
another was strong enough to put in the tank on April 16th, 
1850, which produced its first flower on June 20th, and 
continued to produce a flower almost every alternate day 
up to November 25th when its sixty-fifth flower opened. 
After that they became fewer, and it produced its last flower 
on Christmas day. The leaves were four and a half feet in 
diameter, and lying nearly half over the side of the tank, 
eleven feet being much too narrow. 
“The nature of the plant being now better understood, 
it was preserved throughout the winter, and in the spring 
began to grow vigorously, its first flower opening on Easter 
Monday, the 20th of April, 1851. It continued to flower, 
but with some intervals, up to the end of December; the 
plant again lived throughout the winter, and on February 
28th, 1852, again commenced to flower, continuing to do 
so until late in the year. In January, 1853, it died, having 
been nearly three years in the tank, in that time producing 
more than 200 flowers, and a great abundance of seeds, thus 
proving the plant to be a perennial.” 
Tn 1851 seeds were sent from Kew by Sir Joseph Hooker 
to Mr. Caleb Cope, Esq., of Springbrook, near Philadelphia, 
which germinated on the 10th of April, 1851, the second 
leaf appearing a week later. On August 10th the twenty- 
seventh leaf appeared. This leaf grew to 6 feet 6 inches 
in diameter, being six inches larger than any produced in 
England. On August 21st the first flower was seen. The 
plant continued in perfect health for four years, during 
that period bearing over 200 flowers. 
