BniEF REMARKS. 177 



will be filled to its topmost banks, or at least 15 feet deeper than at 

 present, while its breadth will also be greatly increased, so tliat the 

 petioles of the Victoria, lengthening doubtless with the rise of the 

 waters, will bring the leaves to a much greater surface, on which they 

 will have room to dilate to about twice tlieir present size. The aspect 

 of the Victoria in its native waters is so new and extraordinary tiiat I 

 am at a loss to what to compare it. Tiie image is not a very poetical 

 one, but assuredly tiie impression the plant gave me, when viewed 

 from the bank above, was that of a number of tea-trays floating, with 

 here and tliere a bouquet protruding between them ; but when more 

 closely viewed, the leaves excited the greatest admiration, from their 

 immensity and perfect synnnetry. A leaf turned up suggests some 

 strange fabric of cast-iron just taken out of the furnace ; its colour, 

 and the enormous ribs with wiiich it is strengthened, increasing the 

 similarity. I could find no prostrate trunk as in the other Nymphaeaceae. 

 The root is central, the thickness of a man's leg, penetrating deep into 

 the mud (we could not dig to the bottom of it with our tresados), and 

 sending out fascicles of whitish radicles, about 25, from below the base 

 of each petiole, the thickness of a finger, and 2 feet or more in length. 

 The radicles are imperforate, and give out here and there a very few 

 slender fibres. From the same root I have seen flowers uniting- the 

 characters of Victoria regia and cruziana (of the latter I have only the 

 brief description in Walpers), so that I can hardly doubt their beino- 

 the same species, as had been already more than suspected. The 

 Igarape, where we gathered the Victoria, is called Tapiruari. I had 

 two flowers brought to me a few days afterwards from the adjacent 

 lake, which seems to have no name but that of the sitios on its banks ; 

 Mr. JeflTreys has also brought me flowers from tiie Rio Arrapixuna, 

 which runs into tlie Tabajoz above Santarem, and in the wet season 

 unites the Tabajoz and Amazon. I have further information of its 

 growing abundantly in a lake beyond the Rio Mayaca, which flows 

 into the Amazon some miles below Santarem. Mr. AYallace, who 

 recently visited Monte Alegre, had a leaf and flower brought to him 

 there ; I have seen a portion of the leaf, which he dried. Lastly, I 

 have correct intelligence of its occurring in the Rio Trombetas near 

 Obidos, and in lakes between the rivers Tabajoz and Madeira, so that 

 there can be no doubt of its being plentifully distributed throuo-hout 



the whole of this region, both north and south of the Amazon." 



Mr. Spruce's Voyage up the Amazon, in Hooker s Journal of Botam). 

 Ox Watering Potted Plants. — In the operation of waterino- 

 potted plants persons not practically fixmiliar with plant culture are apt 

 to make serious mistakes. Cultivators find, by experience, that an 

 excess of water at the roots is very injurious to almost all plants, and 

 hence it is usual to direct that great caution be used in the application 

 of wafer, especially in winter. The result is, that frequently the 

 opposite extreme is fallen into, to the great injury of the plants. From 

 the moment that the soil becomes so far dried that the fibres of the 

 roots cannot absorb moisture from it, the supply of the plant's food is 

 cut ofl", and it begins to suffer. 



Some plants can bear this loss of water with more impunity than 

 Vol. xviii. No. A^,—N.s. (^ 



