1943 



* PHYCELLA brevituba. 



Short-tubed Phycella. 



HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Nat. ord. Amaryllidacej;. 

 PHYCELLA. Supra, vol. \6.fol. 1341. 



P. hrevituha ; periantho Ig unciali basi annulari vix tubato infundibulifonni 

 rubro intiis luteo-striato, stylo perlaiithium et stamina superante, filamentis 

 pallidis apice rubris : petalinis limbum subcequantibus, processibus fauciall- 

 bus sex j-uncialibus tenuiter subulatis, foliis semunciam vel ultra latis. 

 Herbert M^S. 



P. brevituba. Herbert Amaryllidacece, p. 1 54. 



Mr. Herbert, to whom I shewed the specimen of this 

 plant when I received it from Mr. Knight's Nursery in the 

 King's Road, in July 1836, determined it to be Phycella 

 brevituba, with the specific character of which he shortly 

 after favoured me. 



Having been indulged with an early sight of an elabo- 

 rate work, about to be published by the same gentleman, 

 upon the natural order Amaryllidaceae, I find the species 

 stationed next P. Herbertiana, with the observation that it 

 is remarkable for the tube of the flower being nearly obsolete. 



It is a matter of no little difficulty to distinguish the spe- 

 cies of this beautiful genus ; I may almost add, that it is 

 impossible to do so, in the absence of information concerning 

 the small appendages found at the base of the filaments. 

 These bodies differ in number, proportion, and size in diffe- 

 rent species, and afford the most certain distinctive characters 

 I am acquainted with. In P. brevituba they are six, awl- 

 shaped, slender, and placed in pairs at the base of the sepa- 

 line stamens (/?_</. B.) ; in P. Ignea they are twelve in 

 number, of which six are awl-shaped, and in pairs as in 

 P. brevituba, and six minute, rudimentary, gland-like, and 



* See folio 1341. 



