BOTANICAL CHARACTERS AND DESCRIPTION.
VICTORIA. Lindl.
©nitric (Sljnrnctci'.
Tubs of tho Caltx adhoront
h of four, rarely fivo, ispreading
Petals numerous, largo, mil
ratod ring or torus nt
St.vmkss very nurnoreus, in f
utli of tho cnlyx-tubo tho inti
ckonotl intloxod subulato filntni
uloid, acuto filaments, tho oxtor
ar-subulnlo, cxtoiidod beyond £
Ovaby inoorporatod with tho
>oro radii
o^rTmti^soTlm
tho ovary, cyathiform, prickly, expanded into a lorus at tho month; tho II the stigma, slightly coherent with the inside of tho olevated ring or torus, and also with the innermost scries
icoous oblong segments, spiny at tho back. * _ | of sterile stamens; and these appendages collectively form a sort of inner ring to the torus. .
ng, oblong-spat huíate, inserted upon tho back, or outer edge; of an-. FEUlir a large, prickly, globose, very succulent, many-colled berry, deeply concave at the summit, and
lie calycino tube. » | - thickened at the margin by the persistent ring or torus of the flower, oporculoted, the thickened torus,
rom tho top of the dcvatod ring or torus at the
jus; innermost (single) series composed of sterile
together with the largo radiated stigma, falling away in the form of a cup-shaped operculum! Seeds numerous,
parietal, attached to a short funiculus, oval-globose ; albumen copious, mealy. Embryo small, at the top of
the albumon, subglobose, enclosed in a membranous sack. Cotyledons largo, hemispherical; radicle small,
potaloid filaments. Filaments of tho fertile stamens I superior.
orso anthers. A cast herbaceous aquatic, inhabiting the still waters of Tropical America, on the eastern side of the
tho tube of tho calyx, and heneo hemispherical, hollowed at the top so as to be Andes. Root, a tuberous, subfusifonn rhisoma. Leaves, radical, gigantic, floating, plane above, orbicular, pdtate
rbconical column, many—(25-86)—celled, the cells and pellucidopunctate, with an upcurced margin, purple beneath and there prickly on the exceedingly projecting
Style, none; stigma, the concave radiated summit ribs, and on the reticulated ramifications of the ribs. Vernation involute and much corrugated. Petioles very long,
of the ovary ; tho rays equal in number with tho colls, each ray at tho summit being terminated with a large terete,.,prickly, scaly at the base, internally having large air-cells. Peduncles, short, from the sides of the petioles
goniculatcd, fleshy (or between fleshy and pulpy) appendage, appearing to be articulated on the margin of || prickly, as is the calyx of the exceedingly large fragrant flowers, which scarcely rise alone the surface of the water.
V IC TO R IA R E G IA . (T ab. host», r f i f . )
Victoria regia. Lindl. Monogr. Wict. ined., with a plate, 18 3 7 ; Bot, Beg. Miscel., Feb. 1 8 3 8 ; L'Orbigny in Ann. dee Sc. Nat. v. 13, p . 5 7 ; TValp.
Repert., 1 ,p . 10 6 ; Schomburgk, Views in the Interior o f Guiana, p . 2, with figure in frontispiece; Hooker, Bot. Mag., Tab. 4275—4 2 7 8 ;* Henfrey, in Gardener's
Mag. o f Botany, p . 225, with fo u r figures.
Victoria Regina. J . E. Gray, in Atheneeum, Sept. 1 8 3 7 ; in Mag. o f Zool. and Bot. fo r October, 1837, p . 3 7 8 ; and fo r November, 1837, p . 441, Tab. 1 2 ;
and in Proceedings o f the Botanical Society o f London, p . 44, Tab. 1 and 2.
Nymphtea Victoria. Schomburgk in litt.
E uryale Amazonica. Poppig in Froriep Notizen, 35, p . 9 ; Reise, v. 2 , p . 432.
Victoria Cruziana. L'Orbigny, I. c. p . 57, ( “foliis utrinque concoloribus, peta Us cunctis concoloribits roséis.'")
D e sc r ip t io n .—When our drawings were made, and our descriptions prepa red for th e account o f this plant, published in th e Botanical Magazine,
above quoted, we were forced unwillingly to confess th a t “ th e Victoria h ad n o t y e t p roduc ed its blossoms in E n g la n d ;” b u t w e s ta ted th a t w e possessed,
in th e Royal Gardens o f Kew, growing plants, recently raised from seeds b rought b y Mr. Bridges from Bolivia, and expressed our fears le st th e lateness
o f th e season and our gloomy winter atmosphere should n o t b e favourable to th e preservation o f such young and ten d e r plants, which, in th e ir native
country, are a t all times exposed to powerful light and h e a t; y e t sh o u ld th ey die, we added, “ we have no reason to despair o f b e ing able a t a future
time to re a r the Victoria regia, and o f seeing i t b loom in this country.”
This p rediction has been verified. I t has n o t only been successfully cultivated in some o f th e most celebrated gardens in Gre a t Britain, b u t well-
ripened seeds have be en s ent to u s from Trinidad, wbich h ad been yielded b y p lants whose seeds were only th e ye a r before s ent o ut by u s from Kew !
B y the liberality o f th e cultivators, whether a t the private gardens o f the ir Graces the D uke s o f Devonshire and Northumberland, or th e public gardens
o f Kew, Victoria regia has been seen b y thousands and tens o f thousands o f people, and i f our p lan t be n o t accurately represented and described, it is
n o t for w ant o f ready access to living and flowering specimens. T h e p re sen t drawings were made b y Mr. Fitch, mainly from th e plants a t S y o n ; the
analysis o f th e flowers and the descriptions áre chiefly from specimens in th e Royal Gardens a t Kew.
R O O T .
This, perhaps, is th e portion o f th e p lan t least known to u s from personal inspection, for where th e p lan t is healthy and vigorous in cultivation no
one would have th e hardihood to examine it, a t th e risk o f destroying th e foliage and flowers. Happily Mr. Spruce has rendered this scrutiny
unne c e ssa ry:—“ Root (o r rhisoma) central, th e thickness o f a m an’s leg, penetrating de ep into th e mud, and sending o u t fascicles o f whitish radicles, about
fwenty-five in number, from below th e base o f each petiole, th e thickness o f a finger, and two fe e t o r m ore in length. T h e radicles are imperforate,
and give o ut he re and the re a very few slenaer fibres. From th e u p p e r end o f this root, and generally, a t le a st in cultivation, rising a little above the
* The same description and plates wore published separately on a folio size, by Messrs. Reeve, Bonham, and Reeve, but the impression has been long out Of print.
surface o f th e water, f t »ember o f imbricated purplish triangular, oval, concave, o r carinated membraneous and aemi-tranaparent pnrpbah brown
.pdhrcid s c a le s " (see onr Tab. I I ., left-hand a id e ; a n d Tab. I I I ., right-hand aide), as many, perhaps, M there are leaves to be evolved, for every
. . . i ,1___ augIi snire. Mr. Smith has observed th e leaves to be given o u t in
all their different
L E A V E S .
{See our reduced figure of the entire plant. Tab. L)
I Glorious as a re th e flower o f this p la n t, yet, d id i t neve r p roduc e them , th e leaves alone w ould command onr high admir
stage s o f urowth W e do n o t spe ak now o f the seeddcaves. which will afterwards b e noticed, bill o f th e leaves springing from the fully developed
r f a o m e Observe th en , in the ir youngest stage, soon after e n ra g in g from what may b e called th e s tipnhny scales, ju s t referred to (see Tab I., ne a r the
middle a n d T ab I I I , right-hand fig u re ); o r a t a little la te r pe riod, when th e peliolc is m ore elongated, a n d th e infant le a f begm, to float m the water, yon
would think some curious shell was th e re th e le a f is then barely so b ig as omfs han d the sides »11 rolled .»wards, and th e whole (for th e up p e r
is n o t now visible) corrugated o r crumpled, like th e petals o f a poppy, densely covered with prtckles, like a hedge-hog, or shll more e e covering
o f an Echinus a n d o f a similar greenish p u rp le colour In sp e c t it on th e second Ä n d you would hardly reoogmse ,t. I t ,s expanded e
sire, and is very m uch dm hope o f a try in g pan, only Hurt f a margin i t u f a d u p more v ertically, and the on,im snrii.te, ,s most canons,y puckered
, or blistered in th e nreoles o f th e n e tw o rk ; th e u p p e r surface, d e stitu te o f prickles, is of the b righte st g reen, wlnle th e unde r srde ,s p n ck ly and p ro p .
S L less intense hue. according as it is exposed to th e light. So rapid is the increase in growth o f Uns fohage, f a t before the n ex t day,
summer weather, this le a f will he two o r Ihree fe e t across, a n d in six days' time, five,or six feet in diameter every w a y ! We ll ou g h t Mr. Spruce say
f a t tho a sp e c t o f th e H * » , 1 M — new and extraordinary tha t ho is a t a loss .0 what .0 eon,pare ••The .mage, he continues
a & j , . a very poetical one, b u t, assuredly, th e impression th e p lan t g a v e m e when viewed, from th e . b a n k above, was f a t o f a number o f gr
f a - f a y s fronting, wrti, h e re and th e re a bnmpret proteudmg between fern, h u t when more closely viewed the leaves, exerted f a g reatest a dm fa ro n
K Ä f a u L ^ ^ « e r g f a f a M i n m e t e r Ä .„ .f a tiv a tio n ,s .a h f a r f a r,
o f six le e ,, or eighteen feet in « l e a f turned up,” cohtihnes.®Br,Sp»nce,' '/su g g e sts s e m e m e iabr.c o f cast-iron, ju s t f a
o n , o f th e furnace, its colour, and th e enormous ribs w ith which i t is s lr e n g f a n c d , inc re a sing th e similarity." To .u s 1,owe,,'er,t e e r e ,s a somethmg n
T e d t f a f a loveliest gre en. f a t e only i n strong, and h e a lthy plante t,art th e m a rg n s am tam e d u p ; in f a la rge st and strongest leaves tin s
phenomenon f a e s p lace an e x t n t i„ hvoadth erpm! to f a c e , an d even, f nv inches, while in w eak plante th e mmgm, are "
on th e .water. Althougl.-wo have spoken, o f th e gre a t evenness o f f a u p p e r surface ol Uie foliage, rt re n o t to e un era CO a
or depression shan f a d . f a t fro:« a p o h u 'c .m v p f a ! ; .« w its ,l:c m s e rtih n te f f a petiole about o n e - f a d o f th e
way disten t from f a base, a number o f slightly depressed lines, repeatedly dichotomous, rndinte f t f a cheumference, and these hues,
W » f a ribs b y transverse lines, dividing f a whole leaf, as it were, into — f c f a r d e d nreoIn,, an mch o r mote
r l f a f a i t m u i e rm o : distinct line runs f r W f a p o in t o f insertion o f f a petiole to f a apex, which is distinguished b y , , small notch, w lnle ,, stifl
; , „ „ „ „ „ „ e e d lin ,x te,,ds iron, f a same point ,o f a base, where f a n , is also a notch, a n d this fine is somewhat p ellnc.d, g .v.ng f a nppeatence
there having been two lobes (which, in r ality, m e distinct in th e seminal leaves, se e T ab. IV , F B B B
B f a u p p e r s ide o f t h e le a f o f H | is distinguished h y n p eenllnr evenness, . tew e r * revotee is th e case w.th th e un d e r srde. - m,po »
; J E S lignr to d o justic e to f a fo r,, and sirncti.rc o f this p a rt. B M M M S j H to represent a small portion o H h e natural g § § |
from n e a r the insertion o f the petiole, a t Ü M H W B an d o f f a marginal portion a t F. 3. The n h s a t U.e.r orrg.n m il be se n o be o f prmhgunte
sive (wc spe ak comparatively, an d S H M W M i M M H M B M H « W f a * B D H B **“ ” 7
1 i n f a f l t e c l f in fa thinne st p a rti y e t fa k e e l, o r edge, is remarkably, teiekeped, to fa diameter g an inch (!) o r more, and angled, and very
flexuose f and join ted hairs. (Tab. IV , Fig. V) Still m e re iT u "
those an , elrenlar, gencnrlly m a rg in ed with red. ami ap pa ,cully f o n n e d o f a Unn w i t f a a large stipulary scale, and are ■ B B S . . . . # —t : : ;
. a n d F . 4, _ a n d vertical), with f la rge longitudinal cylindrical " | sll0rt m d r„ f a r .hick
ra th e r soft, b u t n ot r f a i l y yielding to f a grasp, f a g h t curved,) Very spongy “ W ■ a ronnd f tem . The
if ones contain, in the ir pañe te s, numeroi