THE EAFFLESIA ARNOLDI. 
[Nature and Art, October 1, 1866 
158 
and lie pointed to a flower growing' close to tlie ground, 
under the bushes, which was truly astonishing'. My first 
impulse was to out it up and carry it to the hut. I there- 
fore seized the Malay’s parang' (a sort of instrument like a 
woodman’s chopping'-hook), and finding that it sprang from 
a small root which ran horizontally (about as large as two 
fingers, or a little more), I soon detached it, and removed it 
to our hut. To tell you the truth, had I been alone, and 
had there been no witnesses, I should, I think, have been 
fearful of mentioning the dimensions of this flower, so much 
does it exceed every flower I have ever seen or heard of ; 
but I had Sir Stamford and Lady Raffles with me, and a 
Mr. Palsgrave, a respectable man, resident at Manna, who, 
though all of them equally astonished with myself, yet are 
able to testify as to the truth. 
“ The whole flower was of a very thick substance, the 
petals and nectary being in but few places less than a 
quarter of an inch thick, and in some places three-quarters 
of an inch ; the substance of it was very succulent. When 
I first saw it, a swarm of flies were hovering over the mouth 
of the nectary, and apparently laying their eggs in the 
substance of it. It had precisely the smell of tainted beef. 
The calyx consisted of several roundish, dark brown, concave 
leaves, which seemed to be indefinite in number, and were 
unequal in size. There were five petals attached to the 
nectary, which were thick, and covered with protuberances 
of a yellowish-white, varying in size, the interstices being 
of a brick-red colour. The nectarium was cyathiform, 
becoming narrower towards the top. The centre of the 
nectarium gave rise to a large pistil, which I can hardly 
describe, at the top of which were about twenty processes, 
somewhat curved, and sharp at the end, resembling a 
cow’s horns ; there were as many smaller, very short pro- 
cesses. A little more than half-way down, a brown cord, 
about the size of common whipcord, but quite smooth, sur- 
rounded what perhaps is the germen, and a little below it 
was another cord, somewhat moniliform. 
“ Now for the dimensions, which are the most astonishing 
part of the flower. It measures a full yard across ; the 
petals, which were subrotund, being twelve inches from the 
base to the apex, and it being- about a foot from the in- 
sertion of the one petal to the opposite one ; Sir Stamford, 
Lady Raffles, and myself taking immediate measures to be 
accurate in this respect, by pinning- four large sheets of 
paper together, and cutting them to the precise size of the 
flower. The nectarium, in the opinion of all of us, would 
hold twelve pints, and the weight of this prodigy we 
calculated to be fifteen pounds.” 
Tlie surprise of a naturalist upon first beholding 
such an extraordinary flower, remarkable alike for 
its size, as well as its structure and habit, may well 
be imagined ; undoubtedly it was one of the most 
startling discoveries ever made in the vegetable 
kingdom. The flower-buds, before opening, are 
nearly globular, and look like the heart of a very 
hard close cabbage. These flowers have not a 
separate calyx and corolla, but they have one floral 
envelope called a perianth, which is tubular below, 
and is divided above into five large, red, fleshy lobes, 
which, as will be seen by the plate, are dotted all 
over with little light-coloured tubercles. These five 
lobes of the perianth are united towards the centre, 
where the whole mass suddenly rises, forming a rim, 
or corona, two or three inches high ; in the midst 
of this is a deep pit, or tube of the perianth, which 
is the part Dr. Arnold refers to as being capable of 
holding twelve pints of water. In the midst of 
this tube, in the male flowers, a thick fleshy column 
rises, the base of which is surrounded by pro- 
jecting rims, and at the top is a flat plate, nearly 
as wide as tlie aperture itself ; the margin of this 
plate is usually more or less curled under, and the 
anthers are sessile, or seated flat upon this curled 
edge. To all appearances, the female flowers are 
similar to those of the male. They are alike in 
size, the lobes of the perianth are similar, as well 
as the corona, and eveu the cup or tube ; but the 
difference is in the absence of the anthers, and in 
place of them the presence of the ovary, which is 
united to the base of the tube; it has but one com- 
partment, but contains numerous ovules, or un- 
developed seeds, arranged along its inner walls. 
The top of the ovary is surmounted by numerous 
styles springing from it. These large flowers, fre- 
quently measuring over a yard in diameter, are 
parasitical on the trailing stems and roots of a vine 
( Cissus angustifolia ;), so that, when the flower is ex- 
panded, the large lobes of the perianth cover or hide 
the place of its attachment to the stem, and the 
flower thus is to all appearance the entire plant, 
there being no leaves or other stems. It was first 
known by its native name of Krubut, and Dr. 
Arnold described the soil where it was found as 
being richly manured by elephants frequenting the 
locality. 
As regards the parasitism of the flower, it seems 
to originate in cracks or hollow places in the stem 
or root of the nourishing plant, upon which it soon 
establishes itself, forming the hard, round buds 
before spoken of, wrapped in numerous bracteal 
sheaths ; these sheaths or scales, as the flower opens, 
drop away, and when the flower is fully expanded, 
few of them are left remaining. The flower takes 
about three months to come to perfection, it remains 
expanded for a few days, and then gradually decays, 
the seeds being mixed up in the pulpy mass. The 
disagreeable smell arising from the flowers is very 
probably the means of attracting insects, by the 
movements of which the fertilization of the flower 
is effected. At one time these plants were con- 
sidered to grow only on the roots of the cissus, from 
which they were classed amongst the Rhizanthse. 
A greater intimacy with their habits, however, 
has shown that they grow upon prostrate stems as 
well as roots, and that other species of Rafflesia 
grow upon ordinary stems some feet from the 
ground. They form a distinct natural order — 
Rafflesiacese. The very accurate investigation into 
the structure of the plant of Robert Brown, by which 
its affinities and classification were determined, is 
one of the many proofs of that botanist’s great tact 
and power of discernment. In this instance he 
was materially aided by the accurate microscopical 
drawings of Francis Bauer. Dr. Bindley, in his 
“ Vegetable Kingdom,” pays a high compliment to 
both these workers. He says : — 
“ Among them (the Rafflesias) is the very remarkable 
species described by Brown in the 13th volume of the 
‘ Linntean Society’s Transactions,’ under the name of 
Rafflesia, to which those may be referred who are desirous 
either of knowing what is the structure of one of the most 
anomalous of vegetables, or of finding a model of botanical 
investigation and sagacity, or of consulting one of the most 
beautiful specimens of botanical analysis which Francis 
Bauer ever made.” 
Since the discovery of this great flower, three or 
four new species of the genus have been found, all 
