35 



63. HYMENOCALLIS Harrisiana; (Herbert in litt.) " scapo dodrantali 

 subglauco rotundat^ compresso, spatha marcescente bracteata, germinc 

 brevi sessili, loculis dispermis ovulis magnis oblongis, tubo quinqueun- 

 ciali viridi superne albo, laciniis angustis 3^^ uncialibus albis, corona 

 semunciali alba deutibus parvis iuterstamineis, genitalibus superne Isete 

 viridibus, filamentis stylo f limbo unciam brevioribus, polline saturate 

 aureo, foliis tribus synantbiis unciam vel ultra latis utrinque attenuatis 

 subpetiolatis obtuse apiculatis lateribus caualiculato-inflexis scapo flo- 

 rendi tempore brevioribus, bulbo tunica brunnea rotundat^ ovato diamet. 

 sesquiunciali. Primo vere florida, vix odorata. Ex ditione Mexicana." 



*' This species, very unlike any yet known, was imported 

 from Mexico by T. Harris, Esq. of the Grove, Kingsbury; 

 and three bulbs of it, sent through his liberality to SpoiForth, 

 flowered there with their first shoot in the stove at the be- 

 ginning of April. The seeds of this genus are apt to burst 

 the capsule, and become fully exposed to view in their pro- 

 gress to maturity ; but in this species the singular pheno- 

 menon has appeared of one of the ovules, which are erect and 

 fill the cell of the germen, splitting it and forcing itself out, 

 twelve hours after the impregnation of the stigma, while the 

 flower was still fresh." — W. H, 



64. 'KiGilJy^lAjk Jlammea. See plate 16 of this volume. 



Since the article above referred to was written, I have 

 had an opportunity of again examining with care the structure 

 of this most curious flower, it having blossomed abundantly 

 in the garden of the Horticultural Society ; an advantage 

 which I did not before possess, in consequence of my unwil- 

 lingness to pull in pieces even a single flower of so great a 

 rarity. This enables me to make an important addition to 

 its definition, which however is correct as far as it goes. 



I now find that at the very bottom of the cup formed by 

 the convolution of the three scarlet leaves of the perianth 

 there is a copious secretion of honey, and that immersed in 

 this substance are three small rudimentary petals, resembling- 

 anthers at first sight. Each of these parts is four lines long, 

 yellowish orange, ovate, unguiculate, and erect, with the 

 sides rolled inwards, and on the upper and inner surface 

 bears a prodigious multitude of very small round semitrans- 

 parent bodies, closely packed together, and when viewed with 

 a magnifying power of 80 linear resembling a bed of the most 

 beautiful pearls. Upon applying a magnifying power of 500 

 linear, and examining these bodies in water as transparent 

 objects, they are found to be simple stalked vesicles, contains 



