156 



HUTCHINSON'S POPULAR BOTANY 



In the meek garb of modest worth disguised, 



The eye averted and the smile chastised, 



With sly approach they spread their dangerous charms, 



And round their victim wind their wiry arms. 



The Broom-rapes (Orobanche), which are marked 

 by the absence of chlorophyll, carry on their 

 thievish practices underground by fastening on the 

 roots of trees and shrubs, so that when they rise 

 above the soil, and put forth their spikes of dingy 

 flowers, only the instructed botanist would suspect 

 them of the crimes which lie at their door. The 

 Balanophorales and Bafflesiales, which embrace 

 some seven or eight families, are also destitute of 

 chlorophyll, and support themselves in much the 

 same way as the Broom-rapes, by becoming parasitic 

 on the roots of green-leaved woody plants. They 

 belong chiefly to the tropical parts of Asia and 

 America ; but a few species are found in South 

 Africa, and two or three belong to Australia and 

 the Mediterranean area. The last-named group (the 

 Rafflesiales) includes that vegetable wonder, 

 Rafflesia arnoldi, the largest flower in the world, 

 of which we must give some account (fig. 191). 



The plant was discovered about ninety years 

 ago by Dr. Arnold, a botanist of some note, while 

 exploring with Sir Stamford Raffles' party in the 

 interior of the island of Sumatra. The news of 

 the discovery was conveyed by Dr. Arnold in a 

 letter to a friend, and it will be better to quote 



from his account than to give the facts in words of our own. The 

 doctor says: "Here [at Pulo Lebbas, on the Manna River, two days' 

 journey inland of Manna], I rejoice to tell you, I happened to meet with, 

 what I regard as the greatest prodigy of the vegetable world. I had 

 ventured some way from the party, when one of the Malay servants came 

 running to me with wonder in his eyes, and said : ' Come with me, sir, 

 come ! A flower very large beautiful wonderful ! ' I immediately went 

 with the man about a hundred yards into the jungle, and he pointed to a 

 flower growing close to the ground, under the bushes, which was truly 

 astonishing. My first impulse was to cut it up and carry it to the hut. 

 I therefore seized the Malay's parang (a sort of instrument like a wood- 

 man's chopping hook), and finding that the flower sprang from a small root 

 which ran horizontally (about as large as two fingers or a little more), I 

 soon detached it, and removed it to our hut. To tell you the truth, had I 

 been alone, and had there been no witnesses, I should, I think, have been 



FIG. 193. Cordyceps 

 sphecocephala. 



A West Indian fungus that attacks 



insects, especially a large species 



of wasp (Polities) here shown to 



have succumbed to the attack. 



