VICTORIA 



VICTORIA 



1929 



tliestyk's: t'urpels ;>0-40; sti^niii forming a broad, ba- 

 :^in-like depression. 2-2'-,j in. ^vide, in the midst of tlio 

 flower, with a central conical continuation of the floral 

 axis, the basin filled with fluid on the flrst evening of 

 opening: carpellary styles broad and fleshy in the lower 

 part, produced upward to a fleshy, subulate, incurved 

 process about ^2 in- long. lu fruit all of the floral Ivs. 

 have decayed away, leaving the basal tube of the torus 

 at the top of a great prickly berry, half the size of one's 

 head. The seeds are greenish or brownish black, about 

 the size of a pea. The genus is represented by 2 well- 

 detined species, inhabiting still waters of South Amer- 

 ica from British Guiana to Argentina. 



In its native haunts Victoria grows in 4-0 ft. of water. 



sjiite of the cui>-like f'TUi of the leaves, water from rain 

 or other sovirces does not remain on the surfaee ; it 

 douI)tless runs down at once tbrougii Ibe tiny perfora- 

 tions. This would l)e an indis])ensable protection to the 

 leaf against fungous foes and in the luncti<.in of assimi- 

 lation. 



A single h-'af, l.iy its buoyancy, may sustain a weight 

 of ITiO or 200 jxiuniis. Not the Jeast remarkable feature 

 of these b/aves is tbi'ir rate of growth, (.'aspary found 

 ihemaxinuini growth in length to be about 1 inch per 

 hour wlien the leaf is just expanding; the surface in- 

 creases 4 or 5 sq. ft. in 24 hours, and a plant will pro 

 duce in 21 to 2r. weeks 000 or 700 sq. ft. of leaf-surface. 

 A great devLdopnient of heat has been observed in the 



2668 V ctor a reg a the g ant ___ — 



Water lily of the Amazon 



m great 1 atches mile m ext 1 t n 1 i re 1 Tl 

 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 lO-iJO 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 r.f stipules, these organs 

 serving to protect the ajM-x 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 nuniber of smaller, air canals. The pet- 

 ioh-s 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 the leaf-surface; the tissues are full 

 of air-spaces and canals, thus buoying up the mass of 

 cellular matter. Besides many sto7nata on the upper 

 surface of the leaf, which open into the air-chambers of 

 the mesophyll, there are innumerable tiny depressions, 

 in each of which one can see with a band-lens that the 

 leaf is perforated with a fine hole; these holes were 

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

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

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

 caught in tlie ileep meshes of the netted veins on the 

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





opi-niiiLC Howcrs of Victoria. Aliour sp. M.,\vheu tbc 

 anthers are slieddiug their pollen (in sec-ond-ilay flow- 

 ers), the stamens inav 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 

 (|uite early times, Victoria was first noticed botanically 

 by Haenke in Bolivia about bsDI ; but be died in the 

 l-'hilippines without recording bis discovery. Bon]iland, 

 the companion of Humiioldt, also saw it, near Corrientes, 

 Argentina, in 1819, but still it was neglected. In lS;i2 

 Poeppig found it on the Amazon, and described it as 

 Eiirijali' A 111(1. in II i r, I. D'firbigny saw the plant in 1827 

 at Corrientes. ami in 18ri:i in Bolivia, and several years 

 later published acc.uuits of his find. Robert H. Schom- 

 burgk, finding it again in 183U on the Berbice river in 

 British iTuiana, sent home specimens and figures from 

 wdiich Lindb-y in 1837 (published in 18:i8) established 

 tlie genus Victoria and described the species I', regia. 

 This name has settled upon the northern species, while 

 the one found at Corrientes was named in 1840, by 

 d'Orliigny, ]'. Cri<.viana in lienor of General Santa 

 Cruz, of Bolivia. 



The struggle to liriiig the •■l^>ueen of Water lilies" 

 into cajdivjtv began witli Sclioniburgk. He removed 

 living phints'from inland lakes and bayous to Demerara, 



