hcs 'been knoiATi of it in "Surore for over 130 yerrs. Therefore 

 only those who ?re really fond of rlents mey sense or understand 

 the delight pnd gratification I felt upon receiving unexpectedly 

 from f'rs, ^. Rood e living specimen of this very remc-rkeible plynt, 

 of vhich I had read end have seen a drtvdng, but never hored to 

 possess. Only they may resli'=:e the very great dis&pp ointment it 

 v;as to me to find that the bulk of the plsmt, t^lthough preserving 

 its shape, was a mass of rotten pulp. However, as I noticed thtt 

 tT«;o of the gro'"ths had firm central cores, I held the plant under s 

 running ■""a. ter-tep , and with a soft brush cleared the v/hole of tiie 

 rotten rart avray, dried the remainder of the plant v;ith a soft cloth, 

 and then pieced it in a corner of the v;arm tiled hearth in front 

 of the dining-room fire and kept it there for three days, ^'^inding 

 the cores were then dry and firm, I planted it in dry sand in a small 

 pot, and placed th-t pot half -buried in e larger pot of earth. The 

 eart in the outer pot ■as v/atered from time to time, but I never 

 v/atered the sand in which the plant was actually planted. The 

 moisture ■f'rom the outer not sur^lied all that the plant needed, and 

 in e month i"^ had nut forth roots, v-hen I repotted it in a different 

 soil, and in due course it developed lerves and flowered.- From 

 t^is rl-nt I have therefore been able to give particulars of the 

 strv'ctur^' of its flo^^ers and fruits, -^-las, that plant only lived 

 to flower once, the damp a tmos '-■''" ^"^^ '^^ '^ sunless, cold and v.et 

 year proved to be fatal to it. 



At the British I'^seum -^nd at i'^ew there are fine rswings (both 

 sMke) made by Messon of the ^-lent as he found it sroxving in South 

 Africa, T^ese drawings represent a clump of the nlant thirteen 

 inches in diameter, of "'hich a rraa.ll r^ortion hrs been copied and re- 

 nroduced on a reduced scale by Ber/^-er, as above quoted, i&sson's 

 dra^'inc- has been thought to be an exaggerated representation of the 

 plant, but my plant and one of v/hich I have a photograph taken in 

 South -"-frice has had I'-aves as long and as thick as those represen- 

 ted by I'asson, so probably the plant he portra37-ed had received a 

 lar-^-er amount of rainfall that ye&-r than usual, thus inducing a 

 luxuriant rrrowth. ^'esson -figures the flov'ers of nornt^l size. 



This nlant is remarkable in several of its characteristics. 

 In the first ^^lace, ^-^hen the riant goes to rest, thrleaves and their 

 thic'-' pulp3'' sheaths wither and shrivel to a mere skin, soft and 

 friable, and brown in colour, through which, after a period of rest, 

 the new growths burst. The distinctly stiff petals and the long 

 duration of the flower s(3-4 Vi^eeks) so far as' knovm to me, are al- 

 most unioue in t' is p-roun of plants, onlj?' one other f:renus (c^terro- 

 , hrvin''" these characters, -i^nother interesting feature is 

 its neculiar anatomical structure. Sach growth consists of a short 

 stout stem, 1-2 inch^^s long, enveloned by the thick sheaths of the 

 leaves. The centrp'l part consists of a stout cylinder of dense, 

 flesh V -':i<5sue com'-^osed of minute cells, and is somewhat firmer tlien 

 the other parts of the nlant. This cylinder is surrounded by a 

 single layer of la'^'ge 



elongeted cells, colourless end watery, all arranged at right angles 

 to the axis, and all so large as to be clearly visible to the naked 

 e^e, a t-^'-ne o-^ structure I have not seen before. This layer of 

 large colourless cells is represented at a in ?ig. 160. The whole 

 of this is enclosed in the tubul- ar sheaths of theleaves so as to 

 be nn^rlsible vTithout dissection. A transverse section of the leaf 

 is ouite circular in outline, the central p?rt of it consists of 

 8 mass of clear, watery tissue, with air cavities and slender v; s- 

 cular fibres scattered throughout it. ^--t the outer ed-e of this 



.tj 



