Any species of this Genus, must be interesting to the English botanist;
as, till last year, not one was to be found, in any collection of this
country. The G. ovata is figured in Cavanilles, Diss. 6. p. 340. t. 189;
and described by Thunberg, in his Nova Genera Plantarum, p. 50. It is a
most singular little plant, but we much fear will prove a fugitive to
us; like the Ferraria, (to which in many particulars it very nearly
affines) its beauty is but of a few hours duration: indeed, so short is
the period, that had not Mr. Hibbert taken a sketch of it, whilst in
perfection; and from which our drawing was completed, we could not have
accomplished a figure of it. As yet, the true season of its flowering
cannot be ascertained; but, it was in the month of October, that the
plant flowered last year 1779; the bulbs having been received, from the
collector for the Clapham collection, still at the Cape, in the spring
of the same year. The treatment for this, appears to be the same as that
necessary for most Cape bulbs; light sandy peat, a little warmth when
approaching to flower; and to be removed from the pot afterwards.
[Illustration]
PLATE XCV.
AMARYLLIS RADIATA.
_Rayed Lily Daffodil._
CLASS VI. ORDER I.
_HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Six Chives. One Pointal.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX. Spatha oblonga, obtusa, compressa, emarginata, marcescens.
COROLLA. Petala sex lanceolata.
_Nectarium_ squamis sex, extra basin filamentorum, brevissimis.
STAMINA. Filamenta sex subulata. Antheræ oblongæ, incumbentes,
assurgentes.
PISTILLUM. Germen inserum. Stylus filiformis, longitudine ferme et
situ staminum. Stigma trifidum, tenue.
PERICARPIUM. Capsula subovata, trilocularis, trivalvis.
SEMINA plura.
EMPALEMENT. Sheath oblong, blunt, compressed, notched at the end,
and withering.
BLOSSOM. Six lance-shaped petals.
_Honey-cup_, six scales from the base of the threads, very short.
CHIVES. Six awl-shaped threads. Tips oblong, fixed sideways to the
threads, and turned up at the end.
POINTAL. Seed bud beneath. Shaft thread-shaped, almost the length
and situation of the chives. Summit three-cleft, slender.
SEED-VESSEL. Capsule nearly egg-shaped, three cells, three valves.
SEEDS many.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Amaryllis spatha multiflora; corollis revolutis, undulatis,
lanceolatis; genitalibus deflexis, divergentibus, corolla triplo
longioribus.
Lily Daffodil, with many flowers in the sheath; blossoms turned
backward, waved and lance-shaped; the parts of fructification are
bent downward, spread from the centre, and thrice the length of the
blossom.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A Petal, with the Chive attached.
2. The Pointal and Seed-bud, the Petals cut off.
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