The Monster a. 243 



dress, and the complexion they give at all seasons is, 

 without question, one of the highest finish, as well as 

 intensely suggestive to the philosophic mind. One very 

 marked set of these " foliage-plants " comprises different 

 species of Anthurium, Pothos, Alocasia, Caladium, 

 Dieffenbachia, etc., the huge leaves often reminding 

 one of the shields of the time of the tournaments; 

 or they are arrow-shaped, and dappled with bright 

 colours. They represent the great family called the 

 Aracese, illustrated in England by the little "lords- 

 and-ladies" of the hedge-bank and shady wood, but 

 having its chief development in tropical countries. The 

 flowers, individually, are insignificant, but being aggre- 

 gated in great numbers into a finger-shaped body called 

 a " spadix," the latter becomes, usually, conspicuous, 

 especially if coloured. While young, the spadix is 

 enclosed in a huge leaf-like cover called the "spathe," 

 green, scarlet, purple, or white, and which gradually rolls 

 back, so as to disclose the "spadix." The fruits are 

 berry-like and densely crowded; they are often acrid and 

 poisonous, and must always be regarded with distrust. 



Many of the Aracese, denizens of tropical forests, live 

 a kind of aerial life, scrambling up the trees, and sending 

 out from their cord-like stems, snaky roots, the thickness 

 of telegraph wires, and that run to the length of many 

 yards in search of food and drink. One of them, singular 

 to say, belongs to the company of the fruiting-plants an 

 extraordinary Mexican, common in hothouses, and often 

 introduced into large ferneries. The older catalogues 



