664 



FARMERS' REGISTER— REMARKABLE PLANTS. 



bol(it, cajis arc formed of the spathes of ccrhiin 

 paluis, which possess a toaiso net-like tissue. 

 The inner l)ark of cerra duida, or sliirt trees, sup- 

 plies the Indians with garments resembling sack- 

 cloth. 



Tiia Largest Floivers. 



Among the most extraordinary discoveries of 

 modern times, fertile as our era has already been 

 in the fruits of research is that of the rafllesia ar- 

 noldi ; discovered in the year 1818 by Dr. Arnold : 

 its generic name is a very just compliment to the 

 late Sir Stamford Rallies, and the specific name to 

 that of its discoverer. Plate I. figure 5, represents 

 this extraordinary parasite found in llie Island ol 

 Sumatra. The circumference of the fully expand- 

 ed flower is nine feet, being a yard in diameter. 

 The nectarium was computed to hold twelve pints ; 

 and the entire weiglit to be fifteen pounds. The 

 petals or segments, which are five in number, are 

 about tvt'elve inches long, and vary from one fourth 

 to three fourths oi an inch thick. The color of these 

 petals is a brick red, covered with yellowish white 

 protuberances. I have seen a fine wax model of 

 this magnificent titan of the vegetable kingdom, 

 in the rooms of the London Horticultural Society; 

 and there are Inids'in the Liiinean Society's Mu- 

 seum; the flower fully blown was discovered in a 

 jungle under some bushes, close to the ground, 

 with a swarm of flies hovering over the nectarium, 

 and apparently depositing their ova in its sub- 

 stance ; the late Dr. Arnold thus announces its dis- 

 covery in a letter to a friend : " At Pulo Leblian, 

 on the Manna river, I rejoice to tell you, I met 

 with what I consider the greatest prodigy of the 

 vegetal)le world. 1 had ventured some way befoic 

 the party, when one of tlie Malay servants came 

 running to me, with wonder in his eyes, and said, 

 " Cume loith me, sir, come! a jioiver very large, 

 beautiful, ivnnderfnl .' " I 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 thereibre seized the Malay's parang, (a 

 sort of instrument like a woodman's chopping 

 hook,) and finding that it sprang from a small root, 

 which ran hori/oulally, (about as large as two fin- 

 gers,) I soon dctaciicd it, and removed it to our 

 hut. To tell you the truth, had I been alone, and 

 had there been no witnesses, I should, 1 think, 

 have been fearful of mentioning the dimensions ol 

 this flower, so much does it exceed every flower 

 I have ever seen or heard of; but I had Sir Slam- 

 ford and Lady Raffles with me, and Mr. Palsgrave, 

 who, though equally astonished with myself, yet 

 are able to testify as to the truth. 



" The whole flower \vas of a very thick sub- 

 stance ; the petals and nectary being in few places 

 less than a quarter of an inch thick, and in some 

 places three quarters of an inch : the substance of 

 it was very succulent. When I first saw it, a 

 swarm 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 



" Now for the dimensions, which are tlie most 

 astonishing pnrt of the flower. It measured a full 

 yard across; the petals being twelve inches high, 

 and a foot apart from each other. The nectarium, 

 in the opinion of us all, would hold twelve j)ints ; 



and the weight of this prodigy we calculated to be 

 fifteen pounds !" 



Locomotive Powers of Seeds. 



The forms of seeds are very curious, and infi- 

 nitely diversified : some are like a horn, a cres- 

 cent, a shield, or a horse shoe; others resemble a 

 snail (medicago,) or a caterpillar (scorpiurus) — 

 others again, will be found like a shuttlecock, as 

 thecyamus; all these forms, we reasonably con- 

 clude have their design — " nothing cometh by 

 chance." These peculiarities in structure are con- 

 nected with their preservation, their dispersion, 

 their insertion into the soil, and the depth to which 

 they penetrate, as well as their mode of germina- 

 tion. The feather grass, stipa pennata, is plumed 

 like an arrow, which will preserve the seed in a 

 particular direction ; and as soon as it darts down 

 upon the earth, it woi'ms or screws itself into the 

 soil, to a certain depth; when the plume, having 

 fulfilled its office, breaks off, flies away, and be- 

 comes the sport of the Avinds. Though this be a 

 very singular phenomenon, the shuttlecock seeds 

 of the thistle and dandelion afford examples of 

 contrivances of a somevvhat similar kind. The 

 seeds of the tillansia, or v>'ild pine of the West In- 

 dies, a parasite on other plants, are supplied with 

 long threads, which have the property of coiling 

 themselves round the branches of trees, and thus 

 become fixed, until the seeds germinate. Many 

 seeds are remarkably susceptible of moisture. 

 The seeds of the musk cranesbill are connected 

 with an apparatus which unscrews itself when 

 moist, and coils itself up again, when dry. When 

 these seeds are moistened, they begin to move, and 

 the minute liairs serve as feet to direct their move- 

 ments. When the bearded oat is left lor some 

 time undisturbed in the barn, along with other 

 grain, it is found to have escaped from the husks, 

 and crept to a distance from its former attachment. 

 The grains of equisetum sylvaticum, when placed 

 on a table, and viewed through a lens, present an 

 appearance like insect motion, and may be seen 

 to leap over an intervening object. If we shake a 

 frond, for instance, of the horse tail fern over damp- 

 ed ))aper ; when examined b}' a lens, the minute 

 seeds will appear to crawl about like so many spi- 

 ders. Thus tlie application of Iheav.n of the wild 

 oat for the purpose of hygrometry, and the still 

 more sensible Indian grass, employed in Captain 

 Kater's ingenious and beautiful instrument. The 

 peculiar inclination in the inequalities of surface 

 in the awn of barley will prevent its retrogression, 

 while its expansion by moisture will impel it for- 

 ward from the spot where it originally fell: its 

 march onward, therefore, will be incessant from 

 moisture, and it will merely pause in its progress, 

 wlien that moisture exhales. Mr. Edgeworth con- 

 structed an automaton figure on the principle of 

 the animated oat, which, in a few weeks, walked 

 across the room. The screwlike structure of the 

 beai'ded oat is very a])parent, resembling in some 

 measure the remarkable stem of the screw pine, 

 which is perhaps designed to serve a somewhat si- 

 milar purpose in its relations to moisture: if we 

 breathe on the seed, the awn, which is a little ele- 

 vated above the plane of the horizon, will be put 

 in motion, and describe the segment of a circle. 

 V/hen the avena fatua, or mad oat, is therefore 

 moistened, it writhes like a being possessing life; 

 of this description is the seed of the geranium cicu- 



