72 WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 



dull yellow blossoms by encircling them in three 

 bright pink bracts. As a result, this plant is quite 

 one of the most showy features of the tropical 

 forests. 



Many flowers are favoured with attention 

 owing to the resemblance they bear to some 

 object which the insect is likely to regard with 

 favour. Nearly all flies are fond of visiting rotting 

 meat or similarly offensive matter, and this 

 tendency has been taken advantage of by many 

 plants. The simulation is kept up, both in the 

 appearance of the bloom and in the smell which 

 it emits. The British Field Iris has been called 

 the " Roast Beef Plant/' owing to the curious 

 odour which the flower gives out, although the 

 smell is scarcely so appetising as that of the cook- 

 ing joint. A Southern European Arum (A. dra- 

 cunculus) is so offensively scented that the plant 

 is hardly a fit subject for culture in the garden. 

 Moreover, the tinting of the flower is of a lurid 

 brown colour, not unlike the colouring of rotting 

 meat. Most remarkable of all, however, are the 

 South American Aristolochias, plants mostly pro- 

 ducing huge flowers coloured in brown and white. 

 The form of the flowers of these Aristolochias is 

 also very singular, and in one species long portions 

 trailing away from the body of the bloom give 



