latis, lamina orbiculata, unguis canaliculo pruinofo-Iabrato; 



filamentis laxius faiciculatis, villo vix fenfili teftis, ftylo 



triquetro-fubulata ; capfula fubglobofa, fexcoftata, umbone 



(ftyli reliquo) mucronato ex areola deglubita praepilata. G. 

 ALSTRCEMERIA Salfilla. Linn. Sp. PL ed. 2. 1. 462. Wittd* 



•Sp. PL 2. 196. Ruiz ct Pavon. Plor. Peruv. 3.61. 

 A. edulis. TiiJ/ac flare des Antilles ; 28 cum ic.pidl. Bot. Repofit. 



tab. 64'g. 

 HEMERQCALLIS fcandens floribuspurpureis vulgo Salfilla. 



FeuilUe Peruv. 2. 713. tab. 6. 

 CO\OLXOCHITL, f. Martagon volubilis mexicanus. Her- 



nand. Hi/}. PL 267, quoad jig. tertiam. 

 BOMARE/E fpecies. Lam. Encyc. Suppl.ful Bom ak% a. 



Desc. Rooijiock a out the thicknefs of a common quill; 

 tubers produced at the end of each fibre from the fize of a pea 

 to that of a cherry, flattilh or completely globular, white \ftem 

 3 — 4 f eet high, of about the thicknefs of a wheaten flraw ; 

 leaves many, about three inches long, little more than half an 

 inch broad; corolla rofe-coloured, about an inch in length 

 lamina of the inner fegments green with deep crimfon fpots. 

 Said to have acquired the name of Salsi'lla among the 

 Spanifh colonifts of South-America, from the refemblancc of 

 the rootftock to that of the Sarfaparilla. Native of S< 

 America and the I (land of St. Domingo, where it grows in the 

 ihady fpots of the mountain, twining it felf round the next i 

 for fupport. According to Monf. Tussac, the tubers are 

 known in St. Domingo, by the appellation of « Topinambours 

 blancs," and are ufed for food in the way of potatoes. Intro- 

 duced from the Botanic Garden in the Iiland of St. Vincent's, 

 about 1801. 



Our drawing was made from a plant which flowered in the 

 ftove at Comteffe de Vande's, in October laft. About three 

 and twenty fpecies of this beautiful genus are recorded in that 

 mod valuable work the " Flora Peruviana ; " among which the 

 Jormojiffima appears to rival even the Amaryllis of that name, 

 and theTiGRiniA pavotiia (its rompatriots) in fplendour. We 

 are told in the Supplement to Lamarck's Encyclopedia, that 

 Monf. Mirbel has feparated the twining-ftemmed fpecies of 

 Alstr<emeri£ into a feparatc genus, which he calls Bo- 



MAREA. G. 



