13 



ALSTROMERIA Ligtii. 



The Ligtu. 



HEXANDRIA MOI^OGYNIA. 

 Nat. ord. AmaryllidacEjE. 

 ALSTROMERIA. Bot. Reg. vol. ll.p. 1410. 



A. Ligtu ; foliis lineari-lanceolatls acumiiiatis glabris apice subcirrhosis, pedun- 

 culis corymbosis subbifloris foliis loiigioribus, sepalis obovatis emarginatis 

 mucrone incerjecto, petalis 2 posticis spathulatis apiculatis. 



Hemerocallis floribus purpurascentibus striatis vulgo Ligtu. FeuilUe obs. 

 710. t. 4. 



A. Ligtu. Linn, sp.pl. 462. Fl. Peruv. 3. p. 59. R'dmer et Schultes, 6. 

 735. Herbert Ainaryllid. 92. 



A. Feuillaeana, Meyer in Reliq. Hank. 2. 122. 



Caulis in spontanea \~\\-pedalis, adscendens, simplex., in cultd 3-pedalis 

 et ultra. Folia lineuria et lineari-lanceolata, allerna, torsione resupinata 

 GUt omninb recta, sub corymbo verticillata. Pedunculi corymbosi, scepius 

 bijlori, nunc triflori, foliis longiores, medio bracteati. Sepala membranacea, 

 apice patentiu, vix serrata, obovata, emarginata v el fere obcordata, mucrone 

 viridi interposiio, alba, purpurea pallidissimo suffusa. Petala postica spa- 

 thulata erecta, apiculata, basi alba sanguineo punctata, apice sanguinea, 

 medio lutea sanguineo obliquk et interruptc vittata. 



How the figure of the Ligtu given by Feiiillee, barbarous 

 as it is, could have been supposed to represent the Brazilian 

 plant called in gardens Alstromeria Ligtu, which is in fact 

 the A. caryophyllcea of Jacquin, it passes my skill to dis- 

 cover. This is a distinctly marked species, the characteristics 

 of which are the long-branched peduncles, and the obovate 

 or obcordate sepals ; to which may be added, that the latter 

 are little if at all serrated. 



A. Ligtu is so named because, according to Feuillee, it 

 is called "Ligtu" in Chile; dried specimens from that 

 country are not uncommon in herbaria, and the plant pro- 

 bably exists in many gardens, although not distinguished 

 from either A. Pelegrina or pulchra. The former differs in its 

 short, one-flowered, rigid, peduncles ; the latter in its shorter 

 flowers, and spathulate rather than obcordate, serrated 

 sepals. The accompanying figure was obtained from a plant 

 in the possession of Charles Barclay, Esq. of Bury Hill, in 

 July, 1838. It was exhibited at one of the great meetings 

 in the Garden of the Horticultural Society, where it was 

 conspicuous among many beautiful species for the delicacy 

 of its flowers and their large size. 



