46 
NEW AND RARE PLANTS. 
and imbedded in a spongy substance. We met the plants frequently afterwards, 
and the higher we advanced the more gigantic they became : we measured a leaf 
which was six feet five inches in diameter, its rim five inches and a half high, 'and 
the flower across fifteen inches. The flower is much injured by a beetle (Trichius 
sp. ?), which destroys completely the inner part of the disk; we have counted from 
twenty to thirty sometimes on one flower.' 
" Some drawings were sent home by Mr. Schomburgk, in illustration of the 
previous account. He considered the plant a species of the genus Nymphae, and 
was desirous that it should be distinguished by the name of the Queen, a wish 
with which Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to comply. But it proves, 
upon an examination of the drawings and papers which the Royal Geographical 
Society has placed in my hands for publication, that the plant is not a Nymphaea, as 
Mr. Schomburgk supposed, but a new and well-marked genus ; for this reason, it 
appears to me that the object of its discoverer will be best attained by suppressing 
the name of Nymphaea Victoria by which he had proposed to distinguish the plant, 
and by embodying Her Majesty's name in the usual way in that of the genus. 
I have therefore proposed to name it Victoria Regia. 
" This noble plant corresponds with the genus Euryale in the spiny character 
of the leaves and stalks, and to a certain extent in the great development of the 
former organs ; but it is in fact most nearly allied to Nymphaea itself. 
" At the time this was written I knew nothing of the plant beyond what 
could be learned from Mr. Schomburgk's description and figures ; these however 
contained abundant evidence upon which to establish a genus. I was therefore a 
little surprised to find, soon after the account above quoted had been printed, that 
either this plant or one nearly allied to it had been called Euryale Amazonica, by 
Professor Poppig. In the second volume of the travels of this distinguished natu- 
ralist, mention is made of a Nymphaeaceous plant of extraordinary dimensions, 
rivalling the East Indian Rafllesia in size, but far superior in richness of colour, 
inhabiting the Igarape" River, one of the branches of the Amazons. The leaves 
are described as covered with prickles on the under side, the flowers snow-white, 
purple in the middle, and from ten to eleven English inches in diameter. It 
flowers in December and January, and bears in Ega the name of Mururu. 
" It is impossible not to recognise a plant extremely like Victoria in this sketch ; 
and I cannot doubt that the Mururu is either the very same, or a nearly allied species. 
That Professor Poppig was wrong in referring this plant to Euryale must have 
been evident to any one acquainted with Roxburgh's detailed description of that 
genus, and has been rendered still more certain in consequence of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society having received from Mr. Schomburgk some flowers sent over in 
salt and w 7 ater. I am indebted to the liberality of the Society for these specimens, 
which although in a very decayed state, in consequence of the manner in which 
they were packed, are botanically examinable ; and they show that Victoria is not 
only quite distinct from Euryale, but highly curious in structure. They moreover 
