CHAP. 11. THE OUVIRANDKA FENESTRALIS. 43 



more numerous at that particular place. At length he brought 

 me a fine lot of plants in excellent condition, and I was glad 

 to reward him for his trouble, and to take them immediately 

 under my own charge. 



The natives describe this plant as growing in running 

 streams. The root or rhizome is about the size of a man's 

 thumb in thickness, and six or nine inches long, often branch- 

 ing in different directions like the roots of the ginger or 

 turmeric, but in one continuous growth, not a succession of 

 distinct formations attached at the termination of one and 

 the commencement of another. The root is composed of a white 

 fleshy substance apparently without large or tough fibres, and 

 is covered with a somewhat thick light brown skin. I was in- 

 formed that it also grew in places which were dry at certain 

 seasons of the year ; that the leaves then died down, but the 

 root, buried in the mud, retained its vitality, and, when the water 

 returned, fresh leaves burst forth. The natives spoke of it as 

 tenacious of life, and said that wherever the earth around even 

 the smallest portion of it remained moist, that portion would put 

 forth leaves when again covered with water. This plant is not 

 only extremely curious, but also very valuable to the natives, 

 who, at certain seasons of the year, gather it as an article of food, 

 — the fleshy root, when cooked, yielding a farinaceous svib- 

 stance resembling the yam. Hence its native name, ouviran- 

 ih'ano, literally, yam of the water, — ouvi in the Malagasy and 

 Polynesian languages signifying yam, and rano in the former 

 signifying water. 



The ouvirandra is not only a rare and curious, but a sin- 

 gularly beautiful plant, both in structure and colour. From 

 the several crowns of the branching root growing often a foot 

 or more deep in the water, a number of graceful leaves, nine 

 or ten inches long, and two or three inches wide, spread out 

 horizontally just beneath the surface of the water. The 

 flower-stalks rise from the centre of the leaves, and the 



