92 BOTANICAL, INDEX. 
We would request any one having new or strange Plants, to send us a notice for publication in these columns.] 
nERE is probably no place of equal extent on the earth that has produced as 
many strange forms in vegetable productions as the Cape of Good Hope. And 
as many of these forms are very seldom seen in cultivation, (for indeed the 
attempt has never yet been made to cultivate some of them,) the little knowl- 
edge we have of them must he gathered from scientific books or books of 
travel. The above illustration (Fig. 99) faithfully represents one of these 
curious plants — the Testudinaria Elephantipe s — which is sparsely met with in choice 
collections of plants, both In Europe and America; but for its description, economic 
value and history, we will quote from the “Treasury of Botany,” and “Paxton’s 
Botanical Dictionary.” Scientific botanists place this genus of plants in the Order 
Dioscoreaeece, which contain the Chinese Yam, Dioscorea, Rajania, and Tamils, all ot 
which are characterized by lleshy roots (tubers or rhizomes) and herbaceous stems, 
twining to the left. The various species produce edible, farinaceous tubers, but 
Tamus exhibit a dangerous acridity, (poison.) Dioscorea furnish a very important 
