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ending in a more or less tailed purple or yellow limb. They are 



chiefly botanically interesting from the curious valve at the bottom 

 of the tube above the flower spike which allows of the entrance of 

 minute flies which fertilize the flowers, but prevents the entrance of 

 water. Several species occur in the forests of the Peninsula. C. cili- 

 aris differs in its erect fleshy leaves, and is a tidal mud plant very 

 common in the muddy streams and rivers near the sea. Although 

 it almost invariably grows in salt mud in a wild state, it grows well 

 in fresh water in the gardens. These plants not only can be raised 

 from seed, but also produce long suckers by which they can be 

 reproduced. 



Lagenandra is a plant of similar habit from Ceylon. 



Pistia stratiotes, the water lettuce " Kambiang or Kiambang " of 

 the Malays, is a curious floating plant with bright green leaves, in 

 a rosette, largely cultivated by the Chinese in ponds for feeding 

 pigs. It propagates itself rapidly by means of suckers, and is a 

 popular plant in many places for aquariums. 



Lasia spinosa, Cyrtosperma lasioides and Aglaonema Griffithii 

 are also aroids which require to be grown in water. All are natives 

 of the Peninsula. The first two have thorny stems and petioles. 

 Lasia has finely-cut leaves and a curious long purple spathe, 

 Cyrtosperma has large heart-shaped leaves. They are propagated 

 easily from seed or cuttings of the stems. 



Tuberous Aroids. 



To this group belong Arisaema, Typhonium, Amorphophallus, 

 Hapaline y Caladium, Anchomanes and Dracontium. The stems 

 are reduced to subterranean tubers which, during growth, throw off 

 laterally other small tubers from which they can be propagated. 

 The plants are grown in pots or tubs, and the tubers when planted 

 soon throw up a shoot from the centre, which develops into leaves 

 and flower spikes sometimes simultaneously. In other cases, the 

 leaves appear first, one by one in Amorphophallus, and then the 

 leaf falls and the inflorescence is produced. There are several kinds 

 of Arisaema to be found in the hill districts of the Peninsula. They 

 are commonly known as Cobra flowers, from the hooded spathe 

 suggesting the hood of a cobra. The most popular is Arisa'ema 

 Jimbriatum from the Lankawi Islands with large trifoliate leaves 

 and a purple-striped spathe, with a long purple-plumed spadix. 



The Typhoniums are garden weeds with entire or lobed leaves 

 and large or small purple or yellow spathes. 



_ The Amorphophalli are worth cultivating not only for their strik- 

 ing foliage, but also from their extraordinary inflorescence. The 

 tubers are often of immense size, those of A. Prainii and A. Rex 

 being often a foot through and that of A . Titanum very much larger. 

 Kach tuber, which is rounded with a depression on the top, throws 

 up a single leaf, which in large plants attains a height of 6 feet or 

 more. The leaf stalk in A. Prainii and some others is mottled with 

 white dark and light green and grey, and is often 2 or 3 inches thick 

 and quite succulent; from its mottled coloring, these plants have rq- 



