228 nrilMA, ITS rEOPLE axd productioxs. 



Lindlcy divides his Ebizogons into tlirco Orders, Bnlntiojihoracra, Cijtinncea, and 

 Bafflexiacea;. Some liotanists, however, separate these Orders, hj a long lUstauce in 

 their vegetable system. We are concerned here with the hist Order only. 



Eafflesiaceje, R. Brown. 



The order is thus described in The Treasury of Botany: "A small order 

 of parasitical plants. The plants which compose it have no stem, but consist of 

 flowers only, sometimes of gigantic size, surrounded by a few scales, and sessile 

 on the stems or rhizomes of woody or perennial plants. These flowers consist 

 of a eampanulate or globular five-cleft perianth, with numerous anthers on a central 

 column. The ovary is inferioi^ l-colled, with many-seeded parietal placentse, and 

 as many styles as placentoB, more or less united within the column, where the 

 flowers are hermaphrodite ; or, in the centre of female flowers. The fruit is 

 iudehiscent, with numerous seeds, and the embryo undivided, with or without 

 albumen." 



Rafflesia, E. Brown. 



Of this, the most wonderful plant ever yet discovered, the following account may 

 prove interesting : — 



It was discovered by Sir Stamford Eaifles and Dr. Arnold in or about the year 

 1818, in the island of Sumatra (of which island and of Java it is the native), wliere 

 the former was Governor of Bencoolen. While travelling in the Pro\ince, they 

 lighted upon a plant which consisted simply of one huge expanded flower, more 

 than a yard across ! Descriptions and drawings of this vegetable prodigy were sent 

 to England, and tlie plant was named by the celebrated Dr. Bro\^-n, in honour of 

 its discoverers, Bajffesia Arnoldii. 



The unexpandcd flower buds of R. Arnoldii are roundish, and resemble a close 

 cabbage in shape. The flowers appear to be dioecious, and have a perianth which is 

 tubular below, but whose limb is divided into 5 entire fleshy lobes, which partially 

 overlap one another in the bud, but afterwards spread widely. The perianth is 

 flesh-coloured and mottled, and has a foul odour of tainted meat, by which insects 

 are attracted. Within is a thick fleshy rim or corona, lining the upper part of the 

 tube, and within the corona, in the male flowers, and occupying the centre, is a thick 

 fleshy column, adherent to the perianth tube, having one or more projecting rims 

 surrounding its base, and at the top a wide flat plate, the overhanging margin of 

 which is rolled round like the capital of an Ionic column. On the revolute margin 

 is placed a ring of sessile anthers, each one opening by a single pore. 



In the female flowers, the central column is similar, but without anthers. The 

 ovary is adherent to the base of the tube of the perianth, has a single comjiartraent 

 containing numerous ovules, and is surrounded by several styles which are blended 

 with the central column. 



Three or four species are known ditfering greatly in size, but little in essential 



character Dr. Arnold describes the first flower seen liy him as being more 



than a yard across, the petals or lobes of the perianth as being a foot long, and varying 

 in thickness from f to | of an inch, and the cup of the flower is calculated to hold 

 twelve pints. The weight of the whole flower was estimated at fifteen pounds. — 

 Treasury of Botany, Rnjftesia. 



I should not have ventured to introduce this long account of a plant, however 

 remarkable, but that I believe the Tenasserim Provinces can claim to possess one 

 species of this extraordinary genus. Many years ago, while crossing the range of 

 mountains which lies to the east of JIaulmain, and is visible thence in clear weather, 

 by the Ta-ok Pass, at about an altitude of 3000 feet, I came upon a plant of the 

 kind described. At the foot of a large forest tree — though whether growing on 

 one of its roots or on that of some smaller plant I cannot say-^sessile on the ground, 

 was seen one fully expanded flower, and near it two or three unexpandcd. Having 

 described the class of plant, it should be needless to say that it consi>ted absolutely 

 of this flower and nothing else. The expanded flower was eampanulate in form. 



