CHAP. II. 
THE ANGRiECUM SESQUIPEDALE. 
41 
few in number, separate, long, and wiry, frequently running 
down the outside of the tree on which they grow twelve or 
eighteen feet or more; and so tough in themselves, and 
adhering so tenaciously to the bark of the tree, that a 
considerable amount of force was required to break or detach 
them. 
I once found the trunk of a tree lying quite rotten on the 
ground, and Angrcecum sesquipedale growing at intervals 
along its entire length. The roots which had penetrated the 
decayed vegetable fibre of the tree were comparatively white, 
short, and fleshy; the leaves larger, of a darker green, and 
more succulent; but there were no flowers. The flowers 
last a long time, and are objects of great beauty. The 
aspect and habits of the plants sent home appear much 
altered for the better. The plants placed in moss in pots 
are more compact in habit, the leaves larger and of a better 
colour, the flowers equal to any I saw in Madagascar, 
and, instead of the long wiry roots, short, thick, plump, 
green roots, as large as those of Aerides crispum. 
This rare and beautiful angraecum flowered in the early 
part of the past year; and the following account of the plant, 
with a figure and scientific description of the flower, was 
shortly afterwards published by Doctor Lindley.* 
* “ The only original account that we have hitherto had of this extraordinary 
plant, consists of a figure and a few words of description published, in 1822 , by 
Du Petit Thouars, in his ‘ History of the Plants found in Madagascar, the Isle 
of France, and Bourbon.’ His statement is, that it grows in Madagascar only, 
where it flowers in the month of August; that its stem is eighteen inches high, 
with close ribbon-shaped two-lobed leaves, a foot long by one and a half inches 
broad ; and that its flowers are very large and white. To this he adds some 
technical matter unnecessary to be reprinted. He called it sesquipedalian, 
because its flowers were a foot and a half long. 
“ From the time that the existence of this noble plant was known, it has been 
the anxious wish of Europeans to procure it for cultivation; and at last, at the 
end of thirty-five years, the object has been gained. The Rev. Mr. Ellis, in his 
visit to Madagascar, met with it in the forests of that island, and, having suc¬ 
ceeded in sending home three plants in a living state, one of them flowered 
