DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF NEW PLANTS. 
41 
even when young possess a yellow hue. The margins of the leaf 
are turned upwards, giving the singular appearance somewhat 
like a floating dish ; this margin and the under surface of the 
leaf are of a dark brown colour, while the part under water often 
assumes a purple tinge. The costse are of the same colour. The 
spines incline to the interior of the leaf, and in some leaves are 
nearly white. 
“ The Victoria grows in four to six feet 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 surface, but even these, in parts of the lake where the plants 
are numerous, almost cover the water, one leaf touching another. 
I observed a beautiful aquatic bird (Parra sp.?) walk with much 
ease from leaf to leaf, and many of the Muscicapidce find food 
and a resting-place on them. 
“ The blossoms rise six and eight inches above the surface, ex¬ 
panding first in the evening, when they are pure white, changing 
finally (and by exposure to the sun) to a most beautiful pink or 
rose colour; flowers may be seen at the same time partaking of 
every tinge between the two hues, the recently expanded being 
pure white, and the adult rosy, almost sinking under water to 
ripen its seed, and produce a new race of plants when required. 
The largest flowers I saw measured from ten inches to one foot 
in diameter/’ 
The sepals are deciduous, the petals very numerous in several 
series, the inner gradually narrower, acuminated and indurated, 
passing into the stamens, and united with them into an elevated 
ring, forming a prolongation of the torus. 
“ I had an opportunity of experiencing the fragrance of the 
flowers. Those I collected for preserving in spirits were unex- 
panded, but on the point of opening ; on arriving at the Govern¬ 
ment House in the town I deposited them in my room, and, re¬ 
turning after dark, I found to my surprise that all had blown and 
were exhaling a most delightful 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 peculiar to the noble flowers that 
produced it. 
A S 
II. 
4 
