VICTORIA 



the styles: carpels 30-40; stigma forming a broad, ba- 

 sia-like depression, 2-2)^ 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: carpellarv stjles broad and flesh\ in the low el 

 part, produced upward to a fleshy subulate incurved 

 process about ' m lonff In truit all of the floral h s 

 have decayed away leaving the basal tube of the torus 

 at the top of a great pric kl> berrv half the size of one s 

 head. The seeds are ^.reeni h or brownish black about 

 the size of a pea The genus is lepresented b> 2 well 

 defined species inhabiting still waters of South Amer 

 ica from British Guiana to Argentina 



In its native haunts \ ictona grows m -l-fa ft of water 



VICTOKIA 



1929 



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 assiml- 

 latior 



\ 11 

 of 1)0 



i,f till i \ ] il 11 nte (if growth Caspary found 

 theniiMi nil 1 1 \ Il in length to be about 1 inch per 

 hourwh u til I it 1 lust expanding the surface in- 

 creases 4 I 1 J s(i tt m 2i hours and a plant will pro 

 duce in 21 to 2j weeks bOO or 700 sq ft ot leaf-surface. 

 \ great development of heat has been observed in the 



r";i?' 





'»■■■ 



I' Jy !^^;t^>lC#'^*^'^^' '^'^ 



^ ^ 



Water hly of 



iu great patches miles in extent and is perennial The 

 tuberous rhizome stands erect in the mud where it is 

 anchored by innumerable spongy roots which spring 

 from the bases of the Ivs. in groups of 10-30 or 40. The 

 tuber may be as much as 6 in. in diameter and 2 ft. 

 long. It decays below as it grows above, The ivs. 

 are arranged in 55-144 order, and the flowers arise in 

 a parallel but independent spiral of the same order 

 (Planchon). Each leaf after the first seedling leaf has 

 a broadly ovate, fused pair of stipules, these organs 

 serving to protect the apex of the stem. The petioles 

 and peduncles are terete, about 1 in. in diam., covered 

 with stout, fleshy prickles, and traversed internally by 

 4 large, and a number of smaller, air canals. The pet- 

 ioles attain to a length much greater than the depth of 

 the water, so that the Ivs. can adjust themselves to 

 changes of the water-level, though Banks states that 

 they may be completely submerged in times of flood. 

 The gigantic Ivs. are covered beneath with a close net- 

 work of prickly veins, the larger of which project an 

 inch or more from tbf U-nf-snrfn.'.-: tlu- fissnps nr.- full 



of 





cellular 



surface of the leaf, v, , ' ..-. n i . . ■ i . ;, r - i m i- - ■ ..f 

 the mesophyll. thpi-.- :i'.- iiiihiiim r:,i.|.. mn .|iiir.--Miii<, 

 in each of which oue can see witli a hand-leus tliat the 

 leaf is perforated with a fine hole; these holes were 

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

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

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

 caught in the deep meshes of the netted veins on the 

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



opening flowers of Victoria. About 8 P.M., when the 

 anthers are shedding their pollen (in second-day flow- 

 ers), the stamens may reach and maintain a tempera- 

 ture 10° F. above that of the surrounding air. 



Though doubtless known to Spanish traders and mis- 

 sionaries, and certainly of use to savages as food in 

 quite early tiinis, Virturia was first ii.iti.c.l bntanically 

 bv Haenke in liulnia aluHit Isnl ; Imt li- .li-d in the 

 Philippines witliMui nr.,nlii.- l.is ,\\-.;.vrry- l!..iipland, 

 the companion I if IIuhiIm.I.!' , al-M -:t\\- it , ti> :if * i>frientes, 

 Argentina, in IM'.), Imt ' ' i' v ,,_.i,,i,.' In 1832 

 Poeppig found it on tl;. ■ ' ■ ' i"! it as 



EiiryaU Amazonicii. h-i . , i . , I ., i in 182i 



at Corrientes, and in 1~: 1 ml years 



later published account- ■; b:- linl K' i- >' II. Schoin- 

 burgk. Hulling it again in \KV'< on flu- Bertiii'P river in 

 Bi-itisli Cniana. sent home specimens and figures from 

 wliich Lin.lley in 1837 (published in 1838) established 

 the genus Victoria and described the species V. regia. 

 This name has settled upon the northern species, while 

 the one found at Corrientes was named in 1840, by 

 d'Orbignv, I'. Crxuiana in honor of General Santa 

 Cruz, of Bolivia. 



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

 into captivity began with Schomburgk. He removed 

 living plants'from inland lakes and bayous to Demerara, 



