description here, as it essentially agrees with that already given, and may also be considered as superseded by the important information contained in the following letter, which I have more recently received from the same accurate botanist.
Bencoolen, June 2, 1820.
"My Dear Sir,—Since I wrote you last I have ascertained several particulars respecting the Gigantic Flower of Sumatra, additional to those contained in the account forwarded by Sir Stamford Raffles to Mr. Marsden, and by him communicated to you, which it may be interesting to you to know.
"Numerous specimens, in every stage of growth, have been sent from various parts of the country, which have enabled me to ascertain and confirm every essential point. The first and most unexpected discovery is, that it has no stem of its own, but is parasitic on the roots and stems of a ligneous species of Cissus with ternate and quinate leaves : I have not ascertained the species.[1] It appears to take its origin in some crack or hollow of the stem, and soon shows itself in the form of a round knob, which, when cut through exhibits the infant flower enveloped in numerous bracteal sheaths, which successively open and wither away as the flower enlarges, until, at the time of full expansion, there are but a very few remaining, which have somewhat the appearance of a broken calyx. The flowers I find to be unisexual, which I did not before suspect, and consequently dioecious. The male I have already described. The female 230] differs very little in appearance from it, but totally wants the globular anthers, which are disposed in a circle round the lower side of the rim or margin of the central column of the male.
"In the centre of this column or pistillum in the female are perceived a number of fissures traversing its substance without order or regularity, and their surfaces are covered
- ↑ Mr. Jack has since determined it to be Cissus augustifolia of Roxburgh, Fl Ind. i, p. 427. "
