313 
ON THE GIGANTIC NEW AROIDEA FROM NICARAGUA. 
(GODWINIA GIGAS, Seem.) 
amt 
By BggrHorD Seemann, Pa.D., F.L.S. 
(PLATES XCVI. AND XCVII.) 
This is the largest Aroid, both in leaf and flower, of which we have 
any knowledge. It was discovered in January, 1869, near to Javali 
Mine in the Chontales Mountains of Nicaragua, where it grows in 
broken ground near rivulets (quebradas) amongst brushwood. I have 
never seen it in any other part of tropical America, but from informa- 
tion lately received, I am led to believe that this, or a plant very much 
like it, is found in the mountains of neighbouring Central American 
Republies. 
The root-stock with its whorl of roots, turned topsy-turvy, much re- 
sembles an old man's head, bald at the top; in the two specimens dug 
up it was 2ft. 2in. in circumference, and weighed from 90 to 92 
ounces, There are no roots whatever in the lower part of the corm, 
which is perfectly smooth and white; all are placed in a whorl around 
the top, and between them many young corms, by which the species 
propagates itself, are nestling. The plant has only one leaf at a time, 
and after that has died off, the flower spathe makes its appearance, 
both being of gigantic dimensions. The petiole (of the largest speci- 
mens measured in Nicaragua) is 10 ft. long, and 10 lines in circum- 
fe ered with minute spiny projections, and with a metallic 
bénotifolly mottled surface (brimstone-yellow, barred and striped with 
purple), giving it the appearance of a snake standing erect. The blade 
of the leaf (which is green on both sides) is 3 ft. 8 in. long, so that the 
whole leaf is 13 ft. 8 in. long (Engl. measurement). The blade is 
divided into three primary sections, which are again repeatedly sub- 
divided, the extreme divisions being ovate-acuminate. The peduncle 
is 3 ft. long and 4 in. in cireumference, mottled, and with minute spiuy 
projections as the petiole, and furnished towards the base with several 
large bracts. The flower-spathe is the greatest curiosity, measuring as 
it does, 1 ft. 11 in. in length, and 1 ft. 8 in. in width. It is of a thick, 
leathery texture, outside of a dark bluish-brown, and inside of a dark 
brownish-red, with the exception of the base and those parts surround- 
ing the spadix, which are whitish-yellow. The spadix is only Yin. 
VOL. VII. [NOVEMBER 1, 1869.] Z 
