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ON THE GIGANTIC NEW AKOIDEA FROM NICARAGUA.
{GODWINIA GIGAS, Seem.)
By Berthold Seemann, Ph.D., E.L.S.
(Plates XCVI. and XCVII.)
This is the largest Avoid, both in leaf and flower, of which we have
any knowledge. It was discovered in January, 1869, near to Javali
Mine in the Chontales Mountains of Nicaragua, where it grows in
broken ground near rivulets {quebradas) amongst brushwood. I have
never seen it in any other part of tropical America, but from information
lately received, I am led to believe that this, or a plant very much
like it, is found in the mountains of neighbouring Central American
Republics.
The root-stock with its whorl of roots, turned topsy-turvy, much re-
sembles an old man's head, bald at the top ; in the two specimens dug
up it was 3 ft. 2 in. in cii'cumference, and weighed from 90 to 92
ounces. There are no roots whatever in the lower part of the corm,
which is perfectly smooth and white ; all are placed in a whorl around
the top, and between them many young corms, by which the species
propagates itself, are nestling. The plant has only one leaf at a time,
and after that has died off, the flower spathe makes its appearance,
both being of gigantic dimensions. The petiole (of the largest speci-
mens measured in Nicaragua) is 10 ft. long, and 10 lines in circum-
ference, covered with minute spiny projections, and with a metallic
beautifully mottled surface (brimstone-yellow, barred and striped with
purple), giving it the appearance of a snake standing erect. The blade
of the leaf (which is green on both sides) is 3 ft. 8 in. long, so that the
whole leaf is 18 ft. 8 in. long (Engl, measurement). The blade is
divided into three primary sections, which are again repeatedly sub-
divided, the extreme divisions being ovate-acuminate. The peduncle
is 3 ft. long and 4 in. in circumference, mottled, and with minute spiny
projections as the petiole, and furnished towards the base with several
large bracts. The flower-spathe is the greatest curiosity, measuring as
it does, 1 ft. 11 in. in length, and 1 ft. 8 in. in width. It is of a thick,
leathery texture, outside of a dark bluish-brown, and inside of a dark
brownish-red, with the exception of the base and those parts surround-
ing the spadix, which are whitish-yellow. The spadix is only 9 in.
VOL. VII. [NOVEMBER 1, 1809,] Z