VICTORIA 



1929 



the styles: carpels 30^0; stigma forming a broad, ba- 

 sln-lilie depression, 2-2i^ in. wide, in the midst of the 

 flower, with a central conical continuation of the floral 

 axis, the basin filled with fluid on the first evening of 

 opening: carpellary styles broad and fleshy in the lower 

 part, produced upward to a fleshy, subulate, incurved 

 process about H in. long. In fruit all of the floral Ivs. 

 have decayed away, leaving the basal tube of the torus 

 at the top of a great prickly berry, half the size of one s 

 head. The seeds are greenish or brownish black, about 

 the size of a pea. The genus is represented by 2 well- 

 defined species, inhabiting still waters of South Amer- 

 ica from British Guiana to Argentina. 

 In its native haunts Victoria grows in 4-6 ft. of water, 



spite of the cup-like form of the leaves, water from rain 

 or other sources does not remain on the surface ; it 

 doubtless runs down at once through the tiny perfora- 

 tions. This would be an indispensable protection to the 

 leaf against fungous foes and in the function of assimi- 

 lation. 



A single leaf, by its buoyancy, may sustain a weight 

 of 150 or 200 pounds. Not the least remarkable feature 

 of these leaves is their rate of growth. Caspary found 

 the maximum growth in length to be about 1 inch per 

 hour when the leaf is just expanding; the surface in- 

 creases 4 or 5 sq. ft. in 24 hours, and a plant will pro 

 duce in 21 to 25 weeks 600 or 700 sq. ft. of leaf-surface. 

 A great development of heat has been observed in the 



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in great patches miles m extent and is peiennial The 

 tuberous rhizome stands erect in the mud where it is 

 anchored by innumeiahle spon„j roots which spring 

 fiom the bises of the h s in pinups of 10-30 or 40 The 

 tuber may be as much as b in in diameter and 2 ft 

 long It decajs below as it f,iows above The Ivs 

 are arranged in 5o-144 older and the flowers arise in 

 a parallel but independtiit spiial of the same Older 

 (Planchon) Each leaf attei the ftist seedling leaf has 

 a broadly ovate fu ed pair oE stipules these organs 

 serving to protect the apex of the stem The petioles 

 and peduncles ire terete ab mt 1 in in diam co\eied 

 with stout fleshy prickles and fiasersed intein ill-y by 

 4 large and a number of smilki an canals The pet 

 loles attain to a length much greiter thin the depth of 

 the water so that the h s can adiust themselves to 

 changes of the watei le\ el though Banks states that 

 they may be completely submerged in times of flood 

 The gigantic Ivs are covered beneath w ith a close net 

 work of prickly veins the larger of which proiect an 

 inch or more from the leaf surface the tissues are full 

 of air spaces and canals thus buoving up the mass of 

 cellular matter. Besides many stomata on the upper 

 surface of the leaf, which open into the air-chambers of 

 the mesophyll, there are innumerable tiny depressions, 

 in each of which one can see with a hand-lens that the 

 leaf is perforated with a fine hole; these holes were 

 termed by Planchon "stomatodes" (F.S. 6:249). He 

 considered thera to be useful as air - holes to let out 

 gases which, rising from the water or mud, might bo 

 caught in the deep meshes of the netted veins on the 

 under side of the leaf. It is also to be noted that, in 



genus 



, , , 111 from 



1 111 I -.;: . piil-h^l,. .! Ill 1 - :■ i-tablished 



s sclUr.l n|»in tin- imrtlirni sprcirs, wliile 

 the one fcnili.l iit Cnn-inilrs was innnnl in 1S4I1, by 

 d'Orbignv, I'. (',■»:/.,»« in hminr ..( (i.urral Santa 

 Cruz, of Bolivia. 



The struggle to bring the "Queen of Water-lilies" 

 into captivity began with Schoraburgk. He removed 

 living plants from inland lakes and bayous to Demerara, 



