BROOM-RAPES, BALANOPHORE.E, RAFFLESIACE^. 



be exceeded in variety, its rachis being pale reddish-violet, the bract-scales 

 gamboge, the ovaries yellowish, the styles red, and the stigmas white. It is not 

 surprising that even in Brazil, where there is certainly no lack of curious plant- 

 forms, they have attracted attention, and that they are used there, as is the case 

 with all rare plants, for purposes of healing and magic. The tubers of Lopho- 

 phytum mirabile, which have a disagreeable, bitter, resinous taste, and bear the 

 popular name of "Fel de terra", or earth-gall, are employed by quacks against 

 jaundice, and a belief also prevails that by secretly eating the blossoms youths are 

 enabled to win the affection of the maidens they admire. The same may be said 

 of Lophophytum Leandri, and, in addition, there is a tradition that the eating of 

 it brings luck and agility in hunting, fishing, fighting, and dancing, and for this 

 reason the Indian youth collect the plants secretly and eat them on particular days. 



Of the other parasitic Balanophoreae most nearly allied to Lophophytum we will 

 here only mention in passing the species of Ombrophytum, known in Peru by the 

 name of "Mays del monte", which has a yellowish inflorescence over 30 cm. high, 

 and from 6 to 7 cm thick, somewhat resembling a spike of maize, and lastly, the 

 Lathrophytum Peckoltii of Brazil, to which a special interest attaches inasmuch 

 as it is the sole instance of a flowering plant entirely destitute of all structures of 

 the nature of leaves, with the exception of the stamens and ovaries. Langsdorffia, 

 Scybalium, Lophophytum, and even Balanophora, Helosis, and Rhopalocnemis 

 exhibit scales, which, though transformed in various ways, are yet always in point 

 of position and form recognizable as leaves; but neither on the tuber, shaft, nor 

 spadix of this Lathrophytum is any trace of a scale to be seen, nor even a swelling 

 or rim that might be looked upon as a degenerate leaf. 



In comparison with equatorial America with its wealth of parasitic Balano- 

 phoreaa the corresponding zone of Africa must be called poor so far as these plants 

 are concerned. Possibly further explorations may bring to light a few more of 

 these wonderful vegetable parasites, but it is hardly to be expected that such a 

 variety as is presented in Brazil, the Peruvian Andes, New Granada, and Bolivia 

 will be found Only three Balanophoreae have been discovered in the Cape regions, 

 where the flora is well known. One of these, which is represented on the right- 

 hand side of fig. 41, bears the name of Sarcophyte sanguined (i.e. blood-red flesh- 

 plant), whilst the name of Icthyosoma (i.e. fish-carcase) has also been applied to it 

 because it smells of rotten fish. These names imply that the plant resembles an 

 animal rather than a vegetable organism. The host -plants adapted to this 

 Sarcophyte are various Mimosese, especially Acacia ca/ra, Acacia capensis, &c. 

 In the first place, as is the case with all Balanophorese, small tubers are formed on 

 the roots of the above-mentioned woody hosts, and enter into connection with the 

 wood of the nutrient roots in the manner already described more than once. An 

 inflorescence then emerges from a bud originating beneath the cortex of the tuber, 

 and rapidly grows up from out of the cortex, which is rent and pushed up in the 

 process. The axis of this inflorescence resolves itself into a number of thick, 

 repeatedly ramifying, fleshy branches, differing in this respect from every other 



