56 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 



defensive navy, is the now famous gigantic water- 

 lily, Victoria Regia. 



Few there are who have not heard or read glow- 

 ing accounts of its colossal size and its wondrous 

 beauty; fewer there are who, having once seen it 

 reposing on the surface of the water in its majestic 

 richness of colours and almost titanic proportions 

 among the plant species, can ever forget the won- 

 dering admiration they felt on first viewing it! 



The gigantic leaves of the Regia grow to pro- 

 portions of five or six feet in diameter, and lie on 

 the water like great circular rafts, with turned-up 

 edges. These leaves themselves are of such choice 

 colouring as to deserve the appellation of flowers. 

 They are of soft shades of light green above and 

 seem like pools of clear green water in the midst 

 of the browner surrounding waters. Underneath 

 they are in varying rich tints of red, a red that 

 contrasts beautifully with the light green upper 

 surface, and which forms a marked outer-wall for 

 the rim. 



But the beauty of the broad leaves seems but to 

 lead up to the delicate, radiant glory of the great 

 pink and white blossoms. Pink and white is the 

 impression one gets of them, but on closer observa- 

 tion they are seen to vary from a deep rose red in 

 the fragrant centre, through gradual reds and 



