The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-11-17

three feet, bell-shaped, with serrated
edges of delicate green tint, while
upon the outside it was rich purple
hue. The odor was not poisonous,
but was well calculated to keep both
man and beast at distance.
A few years ago friend of Beccari,
the Marchese Corsi- Salviati of Flor
ence, presented potted tuber of this
plant weighing fifty seven pounds to
the Royal Gardens at Kew, England,
and one night it bloomed, to the as
constituent and delight of those who
saw it. The plant is called the giant
arum (an,ospho-phallu titonum.)
Travellers who visited or passed the
Cape Negro county of A RIGA often
heard from the natives of plant
that was part spider, and that grow
ing threw its legs about in continual
struggle to escape. 1t was the good
fortune of DR.. Welwitsch to discover
the origin of the legend. Strolling
along through wind -swept table
land country, he came upon a plant
that rested low upon the ground, but
had two enormous leaves that blew
and twisted about in the wind like
serpents; in fact it looked, as the ma
tives had said, like gigantic spider.
Its stem was four feet across and but
one foot high. 1t had but two leaves
in reality. that were six or eight feet
long, and split up by the wind so that
they resembled ribbons. Thisi is prob
ably the most extraordinary tree
known. 1t grows for nearly if not
quite century, but never upward
beyond about foot, simply slowly
expanding until it reaches the diam
eter given, looking in its adult state
like singular stool on the plain from
ten to eighteen feet in circumference.
When the wind came rushing in
from the sea, lifting the curious rib
bon-like leaves, and tossing them
about, it almost seemed to the dis.
coverer that the strange plant had
suddenly become imbued with life
and was struggling to escape. When
description and picture of the plant
was sent to England, it was like many
other discoveries discredited; but
soon the plant itself was received,
and today WehUitsckia mirabiis is
well known to botanists, and stands
first among the unique productions of
the vegetable world.
The giants of the grass tribe are
the bamboos, and they attain height
of over one hundred feet. The rattan
that does not grow very high makes
up in length, attaining, according to
Rumphius, in some instances a
length of twelve hundred feet. The
ordinary cane of commerce attains
length of five hundred feet. The
bamboo must have been the bean
stalk of legend, as it has been known
to grow one foot in twenty four hours
in Glasgow dollhouse, and in Chi
nese jungles it often grows from two
to two and half feet in this time,
the greatest increase being observed
in the night.
Some of the palms are giants, even
their leaves being enormous. A leaf
Of the Raphia, Brazilian palm, is
seventy feet long and forty in diane
ter. Another genius, Morimiliono
regia has leaves fifty feet long, while
single leaf of the Talipat palm of
Ceylon is used as tent, sometimes
covering fifteen people.
But of all the leaves that strike us
as remarkable, that of the Victoria
regia is the most phenomenal. On
New Year, 1887, Sir Robert Schom-
burgh was sailing up the Berbice
river when he discovered the famous
lily with leaves six and half feet
across, with rim five inches high,
bright green above and crimson be-
meath. Large birds are often seen
standing upon them, and one grown
in dollhouse served as raft for
little child.
The seaweeds include some re-
markable forms. On the south shore
of Santa Catalina Island the great
beds of kelp form in certain places a
protection, and a small steamer in
which the writer made trips some
times anchored by hauling aboard
one of the enormous leaves. The
macrocystis pyrifera grows in Ant
arctic waters to a length of two hun
dred feet, and at Kerguelen's Land it
has been found growing upward to a
length of seven hundred feet, and
strong enough to hold a good sized
vessel-a veritable giant of the ocean.
CALIFoRNIA.
A SONNET.