named Rafflesia. 
2.5 
the same genus* : but the branch with leaves which, though se¬ 
parately represented in the drawing, is considered as proceeding 
from the same root, appears to me, on an examination of the 
specimen figured, to belong to a species of Vitis : and on men¬ 
tioning my supposition respecting the Great Flower to Dr. Hors- 
field, he informed me he had observed this second species of the 
genus also connected with leaves of a different kind, and which 
seemed likewise to be those of a Vitis +. 
Even with all the evidence now produced, I confess I was 
inclined, on a more minute examination of the buds of Rafflesia 
Arnoldi , to give up the opinion of its being a parasite; on con¬ 
sidering, first, the great regularity of the reticulate base, which 
yet, externally at least, seemed to be merely a dilatation of the 
bark of the root: secondly, the nearly imperceptible change of 
structure from the cortical part of the base to the bracteae in 
contact with its upper elevated margin : thirdly, the remarkable 
change of direction and increased ramification of the vessels of 
the root at the point of dilatation; a modification of structure 
which must probably have taken place at a very early stage of its 
growth : and lastly, on finding these vessels in some cases pene¬ 
trating the base of the column itself ( plate 22, f. 1.). 
But to judge of the validity of these objections, it became ne¬ 
cessary to examine the nature of this connection in plants known 
* This second species maybe named Rafflesia Horsjieldii, from the very meritorious 
naturalist by whom it was discovered. At present, however, the two species are to be 
distinguished onlj by the great difference in the size of their flowers; those of the one 
being nearly three Uet, of the other hardly three inches in diameter. 
t Isert (in Reise ruck Guinea , p. 283.) mentions a plant observed by him in equi¬ 
noctial Africa, parasiticon the roots of trees, consisting, according to the very slight no¬ 
tice he has given of it, almost entirely of a single flower of a red colour, which he refers 
to the Linnean class Icosaniria, and compares in appearance, I suppose in the young 
state, to the half of a Pine-ctoe. It is not unlikely that this plant also may be really 
allied to Rafflesia , the smaller species of which it probably resembles in appearance. 
to 
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