Tas, 6570. 
CRINUM Batrovet. 
Native of the Island of Socotra. 
Nat. Ord. AMARYLLIDACERm.—Tribe AMARYLLIDER. 
Genus Crinum, Linn. ; (Kunth Enum. vol. v. p- 547.) 
Crinum (Platyaster) Balfourii ; bulbo ovoideo brevicollo, foliis 10-12 synanthiis 
loratis firmulis viridibus vix pedalibus apice deltoideis, seapo compresso foliis 
subduplo longiori, umbellis 10-12-floris, spathe -valvis lanceolato-deltoideis, 
pedicellis crassis brevissimis, perianthii tubo recto viridulo bipollicari, limbi 
segmentis lanceolatis albis tubo xquilongis, filamentis segmentis distincte 
brevioribus, antheris parvis lineari-oblongis. 
» 
This is a well-marked new species of Orinum, discovered 
by Dr. Isaac B. Balfour in his recent exploration of the 
Island of Socotra. Its nearest alliance is with two Hima- 
layan species, C. amenum and longifolium of Roxburgh; 
but all the three subgenera of Crinum, Stenaster, Platyaster, 
and Codonocrinum, are represented in each of the three 
tropical continents, and also in Australia. Our drawing was 
made from a plant that flowered at Kew last autumn. The 
flowers are pure white and very fragrant, and the bulb and 
leaves are much smaller than those of the ordinarily culti- 
vated kinds ; so that it will be a decided acquisition from a 
horticultural point of view, and it is to be hoped, as Dr. 
Balfour secured a good supply of bulbs, that it will be 
permanently established as a memorial in our conservatories 
of his adventurous and successful expedition, in which 
about a hundred new species and twenty new genera of 
plants were discovered. : 
Descr. Bulb ovoid, about three inches in diameter, with 
a short neck. Leaves about a dozen in a rosette, contem- 
porary with the flowers, lorate, spreading, bright green, 
firm in texture, closely veined, under a foot long, one and 
a half or two inches broad, with a deltoid tip, and a narrow 
JULY Ist, 1881. 
