and three eighths of an inch broad. In the original description of 

 the plant it is stated, on the authority of Welwitsch, its discoverer, 

 that these are the only leaves that are ever produced during the 

 conjectural one hundred years of the plant's life. This was a some- 

 what gratuitous assumption, as neither Dr. Welwitsch nor Sir 

 Joseph Hooker had ever seen a seedling. 



What really happens is that after the seed-leaves are about a 

 month old, a second pair of leaves springs out from between the 

 first, and opposite them. These later ones develop into the only 

 adult leaves that the plant ever produces. The lower figure 

 shows the two pairs of leaves when the plant is about six months 

 old. 



One is apt to question, in view of these 

 description, why the plant should ever have b 



ling. Little does one suspect that this incc 

 will develop into a gigantic vegetable monst 

 unique ugliness, and well deserving the disc 



ind the 



it that 



The 



the 



mature '• Tumbo " * is a "tree" with a "trunk" a 

 t long shaped much like an inverted cone. Almost al 

 " is below the surface of the ground, the visible 

 :xceeding a few inches. But the remarkable featu 

 -n is that it is often fourteen feet in circumference, 



in age 



The 



like a great mass of "the burnt crust of a loaf of bre 

 quote Dr. Welwitsch's letter, than the trunk of a tree 

 underground portion becomes greatly elongated and its cc 

 Hon is the tap-root of the plant. This goes down sevei 

 in its effort to get the few drops of water that the arid coi 



of the 





after the 



