282 



HUTCHINSON'S POPULAR BOTANY 



and a half million stomata, one may realise what liberal provision is made 

 for the removal of superfluous moisture. 



Still further to assist this end, the under sides of many floating leaves 

 are coloured violet or crimson by a pigment known as anthocyanin (some- 

 times called cyanophyll], which has the remarkable propert}^ of changing 

 light into heat and thus of giving increased warmth to the parts where 



transpiration is going 

 on. This foliage paint- 

 ing is seen to perfection 

 in the magnificent leaves 

 of the Victoria regia. 

 Our drawing (see fig. 

 346), which was made 

 from one of the speci- 

 mens at Kew, fails to 

 do justice to the tropi- 

 cal queen, which, in- 

 deed, must be seen in 

 its native habitat to be 

 properly appreciated. 

 The plant was first dis- 

 covered by Sir Eobert 

 Schomburgk during his 

 explorations in South 

 America on behalf of 

 the Royal Geographical 

 Society ; and the dis- 

 tinguished traveller thus 

 records the event : " It 

 was on January 1st, 

 1837, while contending 

 with the difficulties 

 which Nature interposed 

 in different forms to 

 stem our progress up 

 the River Berbice (lat. 

 4 30' N., long. 52 W.), 



that we arrived at a part where the river expanded and formed a current- 

 less basin. Some object on the southern extremity of this basin attracted 

 my attention, and I was unable to form an idea what it could be: but 

 animating the crew to increase the rate of their paddling, we soon came 

 opposite the object which had raised my curiosity, and behold, a vegetable 

 wonder ! All calamities were forgotten ; I was a botanist, and felt myself 

 rewarded ! There were gigantic leaves, five to six feet across, flat, with a 



FIG. 345. Godwinia gigas. 

 A Centra American Arum, whose leaves are fourteen feet in length. 



