THE DESCENDING SAP 



157 



fearful of mentioning the dimensions of this flower, so much does it exceed 

 every flower I have ever seen or heard of ; but I had Sir Stamford and 

 Lady Raffles with me, and a Mr. Palsgrave, a respectable man, resident at 

 Manna, who, though all of them equally aston- 

 ished with myself, yet are able to testify as to 

 the truth. 



" The whole flower was of a very thick sub- 

 stance, the petals and nectary being in but few 

 places less than a quarter of an inch thick, and 

 in some places three-quarters of an inch ; the sub- 

 stance of it was very succulent. When I first saw 

 it, swarms of flies were hovering over the mouth 

 of the nectary, and apparently laying their eggs 

 in the substance of it. It had precisely the smell 

 of tainted beef. The calyx consisted of several 

 roundish, dark brown, concave leaves, which 

 seemed to be indefinite in number, and were un- 

 equal in size. There were five petals attached to 

 the nectary, which were thick, and covered with 

 protuberances of a yellowish white, varying in 

 size, the interstices being of a brick-red colour. 

 . . . Now for the dimensions, which are the most 

 astonishing part of the flower. It measures a full 

 yard across, the petals being twelve inches from 

 the base to the apex, and the space between the 

 insertion of one petal and the opposite one being 

 about a foot. Sir Stamford, Lady Raffles, and 

 myself took immediate measures to be accurate 

 in this respect, by pinning four large sheets of 

 paper together, and cutting them to the precise 

 size of the flower. The nectarium [or hollow 

 central bowl of the flower] would, in the opinion 

 of all of us, hold twelve pints, and the weight of 

 this prodigy we calculated to be fifteen pounds." 

 The plant grows parasitically on the roots of a 

 species of Vine (Cissus), and consists, besides this 

 remarkable flower, of a mycelium-like tissue. 



The Cuscutas and the Orobanches, the Bala- 

 nophorales and the Rafflesiales, by no means ex- 

 haust the list of vegetable parasites. There are 

 the Fungi, that comprehensive group in which 

 are included not only most of the mildews, rusts, 

 smuts, blights, etc., whose pernicious ways are 

 unpleasantly familiar to farmers, nurserymen, and 



Photo &y] [E. Step. 



FIG. 194. " VEGETABLE 

 CATERPILLAR " (Cordyceps 



robertaii). 



A New Zealand fungus that kills 

 the caterpillar of Hepialus virescens. 

 The fungus is sli own growing from 



behind the caterpillar's head. 



