A PLANT WITHOUT STALK OR LEAF.



THIS is a very big flower with a queer name, Rafflesia arnoldi; but the oddest thing about it is that it has neither stalk nor leaf.

I don't mean a dead flower with the stalk and leaves plucked away, but a living and growing flower. The one I heard of measured three feet across, weighed ten pounds, and could hold about two gallons of water. It was found in the East Indian island of Sumatra, but I am told that others of the same family have been seen in South America.

These curious flowers grow upon the roots of other plants, seeming to sit on the roots, and spreading up like heads of cabbages.




Jack in the Pulpit.