Rcfiig'mm Botanlcam.] 
[June, 1871. 
TAB. 282. 
Natural Order Aroide^. 
Genus Dracontium, Linn. 
D. ASPERUM (C. Koch in III. Hort. xiii. Misc. p. 14, cum icone). Petiolis 
5 — 6 pedalibus deorsum asperis, foliis subhysteranthis deltoideo- 
pedatis 3 — 4 ped. latis criiribus lateralibus dichotomiter furcatis, 
centrali simplici, omnibus piunatis pinnis in^equalibus acutis basi 
decurrentibus majoribus profunde pinnatifidis, spathis oblongo- 
involutis subpedalibus breviter pedunculatis, spadicibus oblongo- 
cylindricis li — 2 poll, longis, perianthii purpurei segmentis saepis- 
sime 7 — 8. — Amorpliopliallus nivosus, Lemaire, Jard. Fleuriste, 
t. 424. Dracontium elatum, Masters in Gard. Chron. 1870, p. 344, 
t. 58? 
A native of Para, discovered by M. Baraquin in 1863. 
Corm hemisphserical, half a foot broad, naked on the lower 
surface, furnished on the upper one with copious cormlets and 
fleshy rootlets. Spathe developed generally when there is no leaf, 
but sometimes appearing before the old leaf fades. Petiole erect, 
five to six feet high, an inch thick, reddish green blotched with 
gray, rough with raised points in the lower half. Leaf deltoid- 
pedate, three to four feet broad, with three principal divisions, of 
which the two outer are dichotomously forked below the middle, 
all the three pinnate to the midrib, with numerous acute irregular 
decurrent divisions, of which the large ones are deeply pinnatifid ; 
texture membranous ; upper surface bright green, lower paler ; 
veinlets of the ultimate divisions erecto -patent, uniting in an 
irregular pseudo-nerve near the margin. Peduncle an inch long, 
half an inch thick. Spathe very fleshy, dark lurid purple, 
reaching a foot long. Spadix an inch and a half to two inches 
long, eight to nine lines thick, mounted on a short thick pedicel. 
Perianth-lohes usually seven or eight, ligulate-spathulate, inflexed 
at the apex. Stamens seven to eight, alternate with the segments 
of the perianth; the filaments at last a little longer. Ovary 
three-celled, each cell uniovulate. 
It seems likely that Dracontium elatum of Masters will prove 
identical with this species, and the supposed locality of " Sierra 
Leone" to be a mistake. 
i. 
