48 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



reminds one of a snake, by its leaves spotted 

 ■with purple and brown. The flower has so 

 strong an odour of carrion, that few persons 

 can bear to approach it. Still more offensive 

 is the odour from a species of arum which 

 grows in ditches, about the Straits of Magellan. 

 This plant has the appearance of an ulcer, and 

 so powerful is its odour of decayed meat, that 

 the flesh-fly deposits her eggs on its flowers. 



Dr. Lindley, treating of the acridity Avhich 

 exists in the roots of the arum tribe, names 

 one which has a singular and dangerous poison. 

 This is the celebrated dumb cane of the West 

 Indies and South America. This plant grows 

 to the height of six feet. " It has," says this 

 writer, " the property, when chewed, of 

 swelling the tongue and destroying the power 

 of speech." Dr. Hooker relates an account of 

 a gardener, who incautiously bit a piece of 

 the dumb cane, when his tongue swelled to 

 such a degree that he could not move it. He 

 became utterly incapable of speaking, and was 

 confined to the house for some days, in the 

 most excruciating torment. 



More than a dozen species of arum have 

 been introduced into the gardens of England, 

 but they are, on account of their unpleasant 

 odour, but little in general cultivated, and 

 chiefly left to the gardens of those who value 

 them as curiosities. One very lovely kind, 

 however, is often found gracing the hall or 

 parlour, and has a sweet fragrance. It is some- 

 times called the horn flower, {Galla Ethiopica.) 



