14 
BOTANICAL, INBEX. 
first leaf had matured, after which all the leaves contained an upright edge of from 
two to three and one-half inches high. The leaf, when the plant is fully mature, in 
its native country, often measures from six to twelve feet in diameter, with its mar- 
gins uniformly turned upwards, but with a deep notch at the two opposite extremes, 
so that the floating leaves have the appearance of floating trays. They are of a pale 
green color on the upper face, but of a rich, purplish-crimson tint beneath. The 
young leaves of mature plants come to the surface in an inrolled condition, and, 
when unfolding, are exquisitely beautiful, rivaling even the flowers themselves, [ 
with their crimson hue. Fig. 103 shows three forms of young leaves in their natur- j 
al condition before unrolling. The texture of the leaf is very thin and tender, but, 
by placing a thin board upon its upper surface, a full grown man may stand upon 
them; indeed, the natives often place their children upon them while gathering the | 
seed, but they lay upon the leaf first a great skin to equalize the weight. Notwith- j 
standing its gigantic size and elaborate structure, the texture of the leaf is so very 1 
delicate, that should a straw fall perpendicularly from the height of five feet, so as I 
to strike between the ribs, it would penetrate its substance. 
Fig. 1G3 gives us a view of the back of a mature leaf, which is pellate, and from 
the stout leaf-stock are eight main ribs, about an inch high, diverging in all direc- 
tions, giving off numerous smaller nerves, all of which are permeated by air canals 
and covered with spines. To add to its capacity of buoyancy, numerous arched or 
curved cross ribs or ties connect the main ribs, and dividing the under surface of the 
Fig. 165. 
leaf into numerous iriegularly quadrangular spaces or cells, giving the leaf the ap- 
pearance of a spider’s web. 
The flower stem rises from a scale close by and with a leaf stem, and develops a 
single flower, the bud of which is pear-shaped and armed with sharp prickles to its 
summit, which partake of the color of the bud. The four outer leaves (sepals) are 
often seven inches long by four inches broad ; of a deep purple color externally, but 
fading at the edges into a dull white ; white within, and of a thick coriaceous tex- 
ture. The flower consists of fifty or sixty (many hundred, Schomburgk,) petals, in 
three distinct sets, in several well defined rows, and, like all other Nymphceceous 
plants, gradually pass into stamens, so that it is often difficult to tell where one be- 
gins and the other ceases. The outer petals are from seven to ten inches in length, 
oblong, concave and white; the inner ones gradually becoming narrower, more 
pointed, and of a beautiful rose color. The flower rises about six or eight inches 
above the surface of the water, and a well opened flower is usually about fourteen to 
