42 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CIIAF. II. 
But the most rare and choice botanical acquisition which 
I made during this visit was the beautiful aquatic plant 
Ouvirandra fenestralis, which Sir W. J. Hooker designates 
u one of the most curious of nature’s vegetable productions/’ 
and which he has since described as the water yam or lace leaf. 
Dr. Lindley had drawn my attention to this and other Mada¬ 
gascar plants before my departure, and had shown me a draw¬ 
ing of it in the work of Du Petit Thouars. At Mauritius M. 
Bojer, a distinguished naturalist, who had formerly resided in 
Madagascar, very frankly and kindly informed me of the 
localities in which the plants I was anxious to obtain were 
most likely to be found. From the work of Du Petit Thouars 
in M. Bojer’s possession, I copied the ouvirandra in a size 
rather larger than the engraving, and, by exhibiting this to the 
natives, at length found one man who knew where it grew. 
His master, who had shown me many acts of kindness, 
allowed him to go and search for it, and after two or three 
days he told me he had found it growing in a stream, but 
that there were so many crocodiles in the water that he 
could not get it. The late rains, it was said, had made them 
magnificently at Hoddesden during his renewed absence from England ; when 
Mrs. Ellis favoured us with a flower for examination, and an extremely clever 
sketch of the specimen, showing its manner of growth. 
“ The plant forms a stem about eighteen inches high, covered with long leathery 
leaves in two ranks like Vanda tricolor , and its allies ; but they have a much 
more beautiful appearance, owing to a drooping habit, and a delicate bloom 
which clothes their surface. Erom the axils of the uppermost of these leaves 
appear short stiff flower-stalks, each bearing three, and sometimes five flowers, 
extending seven inches in breadth, and the same in height. They are fur¬ 
nished with a firm, curved, tapering, tail-like spur, about fourteen inches long. 
When first open, the flower is slightly tinged with green ; except the lip, which 
is always pure white ; after a short time the green disappears, and the whole 
surface acquires the softest waxy texture, and perfect whiteness. In this con¬ 
dition they remain, preserving all their delicate beauty for more than five weeks. 
Even before they expand, the greenish buds, which are three inches long, have 
a very noble appearance. 
“ Of this superb plant, the largest-flowered of all the Orchids, we understand 
that the only specimens in the country are in the possession of Mr. Ellis and 
Mr. Veitch.”— Gardener's Chron ., April 11, 1857. 
