I 
4 
the flower fifteen inclies across. A beetle infests th.e flowers, to theii- great injury, often completely 
destroying- the inner part of the disc ; wo counted sometimes from twenty to thirty of these insects in 
one flower." 
According to D'Orbigny, the fruit, which, when ripe, is half the size of a man's head, is full of 
roundish farinaceous seeds, which are collected, washed, and eaten, forming a valuable article of food. 
From this circumstance the plant is called 3Iais del Agua, or Water Maize. The same traveller 
states, that the people of Guiana call it Irupe, or Yriipe — literally. Water-platter, from the broad 
dish-like leaves. Poppig says it is called Mururd ; while, according to Bridges, the Moimas, or 
natives of Santa Anna, call it 3Iorinqua ; and a neighbouring nation, the Cayababas, call it Dachocho. 
" The Victoria," writes Mr. Bridges, in a letter published in the Botanical Magazine, " grows in 
four to six feet of water, producing leaves and flowers, which rapidly decay, and give place to others. 
From each plant there are seldom more than four or five leaves on the sui-faee, but even these, in parts 
of the lake where the plants were numerous, almost covered the surface of the water. . . . From 
what I observed, I conclude that it cannot and docs not exist in any of the rivers where the immense 
rise and fall of twenty feet -would leave it di-y dm-ing many months of the year, especially in the 
season when thei-e is no rain. The lagoons, being subject to little vai-iation in the height of their 
waters, are the places where it grows in all its beauty and grandeiir. The Victoria appears to dehght 
in parts of the lake fully exposed to the sim, and I observed that it did not exist -where the trees 
overshadowed the margins." 
Both in the wild and cultivated state, the flowers exhale a very peculiar fragrance. On this 
point Mr. Bridges, in the letter ali-eadj' referred to, writes : — " I had an opportunity of experiencing 
the fragrance of the flowers. Those I collected for preserving in spii-its were uiiexpanded, but on the 
point of opening. On arri-\dng at the Government House in the to^vn [Santa Anna], I deposited 
them in my room, and retui-ning after dark, I found to my surprise that all had blown, and were 
exhaling a most dehghtful odour, which at first I compared to a rich Pine apple, afterwards to a 
Melon, and then to the Cherimoya ; but, indeed, it resembled none of these fruits, and I at length 
came to the decision that it was a most delicious scent, unlike every other, and pecuhar to the noble 
flower that produced it." 
Though discovered long ago, it was not until August, 1846, that fresh seeds of the Victoria reached 
England. From this importation it does not appear that more than two plants were raised, and 
these at the Royal Botanic Garden of Kew. Theii- history may be thus told : — " By the month of 
October they vrere in a thri-ving condition, but soon after that time they began to show symptoms of 
decay, and by the 12th of December they were both dead." These seeds had been collected in Bolivia 
by Mr. Thomas Bridges, and were brought to England in a bottle containing a small quantity of 
moist earth. 
The next importation consisted of i-oots. These were sent to Kew in a glazed case, and arrived on 
the 10th of October, 1848. They had been obtained from the Upper Essequibo, by Indians employed 
for the pui-pose by E. G. Boughton, Esq., M.D., of Leguan Island. On examination they all proved 
to be dead and decayed. Dr. Boughton sent by the mail of the following month some di-y capsules 
eontaming seeds, and shortly afterwards other seeds in a bottle of muddy water ; but in neither of 
these cases did the seeds vegetate. 
The next attempt was more successful. Hugh Rodie, Esq., M.D., and — Luckie, Esq., of George 
To-wn, Demerara, obtained seeds which they forwarded to Kew by the mails, ia small phials filled 
-with pure water ; these, on then' arrival, were found to be quite perfect. The first arrived on the 
28th of February, 1849, and others came by the thi-ee next foUo-wing maUs. By the 23rd of March, 
half a dozen seeds had germinated, and were in a thri-s-ing condition ; and others continued to 
germinate, so that by the end of summer upwards of fifty plants had been raised, about half of which 
were distributed among the principal cultivators of rare plants. Up to the present time, however, 
we hear of two only of these having been made to produce blossoms, namely, that at Chatsworth, and 
that at Syon, whilst many of the remainder have perished. 
The first flowers were produced in the garden of the Duke of Devonshu-e, at Chatsworth, under 
the care of his Grace's gardener, Mr. Paxton, and his assistant, Mr. George Eyles. One of the 
earliest of these blossoms, Mr. Paxton had the honour of presentmg to her Majesty the Queen, to 
whom the genus is dedicated. The details of the progress of the Duke of Devonshii-e's plant have been 
pubhshed in The Gardejiers' Chronicle, from which som-ce most of the following statistical facts are 
drawn : — The plant was one of those raised at Kew, in the early part of March, 1849. It was received at 
Chatsworth on the 3rd of August, ha\'ing then four leaves, the largest measuring five and a-half inches 
in diameter. On the 10th of August, it -was planted out in a tank prepared for it. The first flower-bud was 
