20 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



purple veins which forms a fairly regular pattern on the upper 

 surface of the flower. Practically all the members of the 

 genus Aristolochia have flowers similar in shape to those of 

 Aristolochia gigas. There is great variety, to be sure, in the 

 shape of the corolla border and the curved corolla tube, but 

 in all, a general and fundamental resemblance may be seen. 

 This is accounted for by the fact that the flowers are all pol- 



The Pelican plant (Aristolochia gi^as). 



(Courtesy of Gardeners' Chronicle.) 



linated in much the same way and that the peculiar form is 

 necessary to carry out the designs of the plant. The whole 

 process of pollination is very curious and is performed for the 

 most part by small insects. To attract these, the flowers have 

 a strong and, to us, usually disagreeable odor, though it seems 

 to be agreeable enough to the insects which visit them in large 

 numbers. The odor of the species illustrated is said by some 

 to resemble that of old tobacco, while others report it as 



