THE DEVILS TONGUE. 1 9 



looked as if it were the flower of the devil's tongue. The tongue 

 and the leaf which enveloped it were a rich magenta in color 

 giving the whole plant a weird look. Certainly the plant was 

 well-named for its flower is remarkablv like a huge tongue. 



The flower faded when it had been in bloom a few days. The 

 long tongue or spadix withered and both it and the spathe hung 

 down limply. The leaves near the bottom became dry and brittle, 

 the corm became still smaller and the stalk thinner, causing the 

 outside skin to wither. Nothing was left of the gorgeous plant 

 but a dejected looking mass of faded magenta, hanging from a 

 shriveled stalk. 



Xow that the flower was dying we could ])ull it ajjart and look 

 at its stamens and other organs. We found that the stamens 

 were above the pistils, at the base of the tongue. They were 

 reddish brown in color while the pistils were bright red. As the 

 stamens were fastened above the pistils and did not ripen until 

 after them, it was hard to see how the pistils were fertilized. 

 The devil's tongue has no nectar by which to attract insects but 

 it has another device equally good if not as pleasant. 



The tongue is hollow and has in it a ver^■ bad-smelling secre- 

 tion. This liquid smells like decaxing meat and attracts the 

 carrion flies who bring pollen on their legs and wings. 



The leaf of the devil's tongue is almost as curious in its growth 

 as the flower. The leaf-stalks grow directly from the corm and 

 the scars, which were on the sides of the corm when the flower 

 began to grow, are left by them. The stalk is dark green in 

 color, mottled with white like the flower stalk when it first began 

 to grow. It is about three-quarters of an inch in diameter and 

 its cells are spongelike and contain a watery liquid. 



The leaf is compound. As the stalklet divides a great many 

 times and into a varying number of parts, it is called decom- 

 pound. The first division of the leaf-stalk is about three feet 

 from the ground. At this point it divides into three parts. The 

 stalklets, from here on, instead of being bare, are bordered 

 throughout their whole length bv oval leaflets arranged alter- 

 nately and connected by a strip of leaf varving from a ([uarter to 

 an eighth of an inch in brcadtli. The leaflets arc a dark, glossv 



