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of a century in England, that the shrub which produces it was brought ahve to this country. More than one 

 botanist had embarked for the voyage to China, — till lately a protracted and formidable undertaking,— mainly in 

 the hope of introducing a growing Tea-tree to our Greenhouses. No passage across the Desert, no Waghorn-facilities, 

 no steam-ship, assisted the traveller in those days. The distance to and from China, with the necessary time 

 spent in that country, generally consumed nearly three years ! Once had the Tea-tree been procured by Osbeck, 

 a pupil of Linna,-us, in spite of the jealous care with wliich the Chinese forbade its exportation ; and, when near 

 the coast of England, a storm ensued, which destroyed the precious shrubs. Tlien, the plan of obtaining berries was 

 adopted, and frustrated by the heat of the tropics, which spoiled the oily seeds and prevented their germination. 

 The Captain of a Swedish vessel hit upon a good scheme : having secured fresh berries, he sowed these on board 

 ship, and often stinted himself of his daily allowance of water, for the sake of the young plants ; but just 

 as the ship entered the English Channel, an unlucky rat attacked his cherished charge and devoured them all ! 

 We have, however, no reason to despair of being able to raise the Victoria regia and of seeing it bloom in this 

 country. The time is not long, since we first heard of this gorgeous Water-Lily ; and the facilities of commu- 

 nicating with foreign countries are very different noAv from what they were in the days of Linnaeus and of the 



first importation of the Tea-Shrub ! 



Of the Victoria we have the good fortune to possess flowering specimens, gathered by Sir Robert Schomburgk ; 

 and blossoms, both preserved in spirits and dried, collected by Mr. Bridges. These, with colom'cd drawings 

 executed on the spot by Sir Robert, enable us to present, in the accompanying figures, all the more important 

 analyses necessary to illustrate the genus and species of the plant. 



Although to our own country belongs the honour of first fully detailing, in 1837, the particulars relative to this 

 extraordinary Water-Lily, and clearly defining its generic distinctions, yet the earliest mention of it in print, so far 

 as we can find, was in 1833,* in a work to which we have not at this moment access, * Eroriep's Notizen ', vol. xxxv. 

 p. 9. It is there described as a new species of Buryale, under the name B. Amazonica \ so called by Dr. Poeppig, 



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from the circumstance of that distinguislicd botanist and traveller having found it in the Amazon River of South 

 America. Afterwards (in 183G) he alludes to it, in the 2nd vol. of his 'Reise in Chile, Peru, &c.' p. 432; but 

 only says, " In the Igaripes, which are branches of the Amazon River, bearing no peculiar appellation, yet worthy to 

 rank, from their size, with rivers of the second magnitude in Europe, grow some aquatic plants, whose almost 

 fabulous dhncnsions may vie with the celebrated Bajlesia of India ; while they excel that wonderful production 

 in beauty of inflorescence." Then, in a note, he specifies '(kssi Bury ale Amazonica^ as belonging to the family of 



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Nymphoiacem, " whose wonderfully large leaves are deeply channelled below and traversed with veins beset with 

 prickles, their width equalling six feet, while the flower is lovely snow-white externally, and crimson within, and 

 measures from ten to eleven English inches across." "This," he says, "is the most magnificent plant of its tribe, 

 though far from common ; I only saw it in one Igaripe, near the confluence of the Teffle river with the Amazons. 

 The flowers appear in December and January. It is called Murura. 



Previously, hoAvever, to this period,t M. D'Orbigny, in 1828, sent specimens of this gigantic Water-Lily to 

 the Museum of Natural History in Paris. He had gathered them in the Province of Corrientes, in a river tributary 

 to the Rio de la Plata. The evident analogy between the foliage of this plant and that of Buryale, induced 

 the Erench botanists also to rank it as a species of that genus. The dried flowers and fruit, which M. D'Orbigny 

 had transmitted, were unfortunately neglected, and nothing remained of his specimens but a single leaf, of immense 

 dimensions and somewhat injured, which had been folded for insertion in the Herbarium. 



In 1835, the foUowing notice of what M. D'Orbigny is disposed to consider a species of the genus distinct 

 from our plant, appeared in that author's ' Voyage dans TAmerique Meridionale.' " I resumed my descent of the 

 Parana on the 3rd of March, and an-iving at the junction of a small river called the San Jose, which spreads into 

 a wide marsh before falling into the Parana, I found one of the most beautiful flowers that America can produce. 

 The plant seems to belong to the family NymplKsacea, and is certainly much aUied to the Nuphar, but its dimen- 

 sions are gigantic. The people of Guiana call it Irupe, deriving this name from the shape of its leaves, which 

 resemble the broad dishes used in the country, or the lids of their large round baskets. A space, more than a mile 

 broad and nearly a mile long, is covered with the large floating leaves, each of which has a raised edge two inches 

 high. The foliage is smooth above and furrowed below with numberless regular compartments, formed by the 

 projecting, thick, hollow nerves, the air in which keeps the leaf upon the surface of the water. Leaf-stalks, 



* Giiillemiii, m ' Ann, des Sciences Natiirelles / v. xiii. p. 51, f Guillemin, I. c. 



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