2 
FRONTISPIECE. 
colour. As if to enhance its beauty, it is sweet-scented, and chiefly so in the morning when it first opens ; but even the heat of the day 
does not entirely overcome its fragrance 
An account of this plant having been transmitted to England, Dr. Lindley found it to be a new and well marked genus ; and Her 
Majesty having graciously consented that it might be dedicated to her, gave permission that it should be known by the name of 
VICTORIA REGIA. 
The most exquisite species of every type in Flora’s kingdom appears to belong to the equatorial regions. The addition of a 
genus of indigenous plants at once so beautiful and remarkable, has proved of the greatest interest, and adds to the characteristic features 
of the equinoctial zone, already distinguished by Palms of majestic aspect, and the gigantic representatives of the Banana tribe, the 
Musas and Heliconias. 
The richness and grandeur of which I speak, is not restricted to the Monocotyledons, but refer likewise to the Exogens. What 
can be more noble than the sight of a forest interspersed with trees of the Laurel tribe, the Lecythideae, the Anonaceae, the Caesalpineae, 
and Mimoseae with their airy leaves and splendid clusters of golden and purple flowers? Of such did the vegetation consist on the 
sides of the river Parima, above the Cataract Purumama. A Bignonia with digitated leaves, and large white odoriferous flowers, the 
gigantic Urania, the lacaranda with its double-feathered foliage and flowers of a beautiful azure blue ; but above all, a tree allied in its 
botanical character to the Amherstiee, increased the picturesque eflcct of the primeval forest, which extended beyond its banks. 
This noble tree, which I saw here for the first time, is distinguished by that light and airy trembling foliage, which is so peculiar 
to the delicately pinnated leaves of the tropics, and casts a charm over the landscape, which Baron de Humboldt has already observed, cannot 
be conveyed by any of our European trees with pinnated leaves. Its branches almost unite, so as to form a verdant arcade, and the 
elegance of its clusters of white flowers, tinged with rose colour, and its large stamens of a bright crimson, add to its lovely appearance. 
Tliese clusters existed in profusion, and their dazzling colour was well contrasted with the feathery dark green foliage. The young leaves, 
of light green, hang down as if in fringes, and the long pods, like velvet in texture and of a crimson colour, gave additional beauty to 
this splendid tree, and afforded the painter a subject for the exercise of his pencil, equally interesting and difficult to execute. It proved 
to be a genus as yet unknown to botanists ; and those sacred feelings which recur to us, even in the midst of the magnificent scenery of 
the tropics, those feelings connected with all that belongs to home, prompted me to adopt the usual practice of botanists, and like them, 
to name it after an individual, distinguished for her exalted situation, and patronage of science ; after her, who now shares the throne in 
my native land, and to whom the subjects of Prussia have transferred the love which they bore to their late Queen Luisa. This exquisite 
tree, therefore, will henceforth bear the appellation of 
% 
ELIZABETHA REGIA, 
and vies in beauty with one of the most splendid productions of the Eastern hemisphere, the noble Amherstia, and the no less distinguished 
Brownea, the rose of the Western tropical regions f. The lily-like flowers on the left (one with a labellum of bright pink), are the 
offsprings of that mountain range, which forms so remarkable a feature in the geography of Guiana, the mountains of Roraima. They 
are not varieties, but bear specific differences according to the rules and language of botanical science, one of them is the Sobralia Elizabetha, 
also dedicated to Her Majesty the Queen of Prussia, when Princess Royal. 
Two of the aborigines of Guiana, armed with lance and blow-pipe, and proud of the productions of their native home, the El Dorado 
of Great Biitain s possessions in the west, stand in the picture, as if bidding defiance to the rest of the world to produce a scene of equal 
beauty, and a plant so deservedly connected with the name of her, whom they acknowledge as their Queen, and during whose reign, 
they, like the African races, look forward for that justice, which will tend to the amelioration of their forlorn situation. 
Di. Lindley, ■with his well known libeiality, published a botanical description for private distribution, accompanied by a representation of the plant, half its natural 
size ; and since my return to Europe, Mr. Bartholomew made, under my superintendence, a full sized drawing, which is now in the possession of His Grace the Duke 
of Devonshire. 
t Elizabetha princeps in litteris, and in the enumeration of Schomburgk^s Guiana plants, by George Bentham, Esq., Journal of Botany, vol. ii, p. 92. The discovery 
•was made and described when Her Majesty the Queen of Prussia was still Princess Royal ; but as the drawing and description of it have not yet been delivered to her, it cannot 
now be presented without changing the specific name, so as to accord with the more exalted rank which Her Majesty now occupies. A second species of this new genus, the 
Elizabetha coccinea, which fringes the banks of the inland rivers in Guiana, has clusters of scarlet flowers. 
