450 



Botanical Magazine. 



20 to 30 ft. in diameter, soon dividing into branches of great size, bearing a 

 dense mass of digitate leaves, with axillary flowers, solitary, very large, 

 with white petals and purple anthers. There can be no question of this 

 being the largest known tree. Though introduced to Britain so long ago 

 as 1724, it has never flowered, and is not likely to do so in our stoves, 

 without more room than can in general be afforded. Dr. Hooker's figure 

 {fig. 168.) is from specimens preserved in spirits. The flowers (a) are 



handsome on their first expansion, but put on a very different appearance 

 at a more advanced period {b) ; both flowers and fruit (c) are pendent. 

 Humboldt speaks of this tree as " the oldest organic monument of our 

 planet." Adanson makes the following calculation of its age, diameter of 

 the trunk and height. 



A tree 



1 year old is 



20 years old is 



30 



100 



1000 



2400 



5150 



1 or If inch in diameter, and 5 feet in height. 



1 foot - - 15 



2 feet - - 22 



4 - - 29 



14 - - 58 



30 



64 



73 



The roots are of an extraordinary length, with numerous ramifications. 

 Adanson found the taproot of a tree, whose trunk was 77 ft. in circumfe- 

 rence, 110 ft. long. The branches spread out drooping at the extremities, 

 and are so entirely covered with leaves as to form a nearly hemispherical 

 mass of verdure, from 140 to 150 ft. in diameter, and from 60 to 70 ft. in 

 height. (See the vignette in Macartney's Embassy to China, p. 141.) " The 

 wood is pale-coloured, light, and soft, so that, in Abyssinia, the wild bees 

 perforate it, for the purpose of lodging their honey in the holes, which 

 honey is reckoned the best in the country. I know not that the wood 

 itself is applied to any particular use, but the negroes on the eastern 

 coast of Africa employ the trunks in a certain state to a very extraordi- 

 nary purpose. The tree is subject to a particular disease, owing to the 

 attack of a species of fungus which vegetates in the woody part, and 

 which, without changing its colour, or appearance, destroys life, and 

 renders the parts so attacked as soft as the pith of trees in general. Such 

 trunks are then hollowed into chambers, and within them are suspended 

 the dead bodies of those who are refused the honour of burial. There 

 they become mummies, perfectly dry and well preserved, without any far- 

 ther preparation or embalmment, and are known by the name of guiriots. 



