SUBTROPICAL PLANTS FOE, THE PLOWER GARDEN. 207 



and bearing brownisli viscid drops, whicli like oil adheres to 

 the hand when the stem is touched. Wigandia Vigieri is 

 a plant of quick and -^dgorons growth, and remarkable habit. 

 In the beginning of September, 1867, 1 measured a specimen 

 with leaves three feet nine inches long, counting the leaf- 

 stalk, and twenty-two inches across — the stem, nearly seven 

 feet high and two inches in diameter, bearing a column of 



Fig. 75. 



"Wigandia macrophylla (W. caracasana). 



such leaves. It is known at a glance from the popular 

 and older W. macrophjdla — by the leaves and the stems 

 being covered in a greater degree with glossy, slender, 

 stinging bodies. These are so thickly produced as to give 

 the stems a glistening appearance. W. urens is another 

 species often planted, but decidedly inferior to either of the 

 foregoing, except in power of stinging, in which way it is 

 not likely to be surpassed. Seeds of the three species have 



