THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



NiOBE Salisbury, Trans. Hort. See. i : 335. 1812 



Bryocles Salisbury, 1. c. 



Hosta Tratt. Arch. Gew. i : 55. 1812. Not Jacq. 1797. 



Funkia Spreng. Anl. Ed. 2, 2^ : 246. 1817. 



Lihertia Dum. Comm. 9. 1822. 



Tufted perennial herbs, forming large masses, with petioled 

 basal leaves, and a racemose inflorescence borne on a naked or 

 leafy stem. Perianth varying from white to lavender and blue, 

 tubular-trumpet-form, funnel-form, or campanulate-funnel-form : 

 segments six, shorter or longer than the tube. Stamens six, de- 

 clinate, from equaling to a little shorter than the perianth, the 

 filaments filiform and free or nearly so, or adnate to the tube for 

 a considerable part of their length : anthers oblong, versatile, in- 

 trorse. Ovary sessile, oblong, 3-celled. Style filiform, a little 

 thickened at the stigma. (Jvulcs numerous. Capsule narrowly 

 oblong or almost linear, loculicidally 3-valved. Seeds com- 

 pressed, angled, or almost flat. ^ 



Species seven or eight, perhaps more, natives of Japan, China, 

 and eastern Siberia. 



The following key will help identify the six species in culti- 

 vation : 



Perianth white, 3-4 in. long, tnlnilar-trunipet-form ; stamens adnate to the 

 tube for a considerable portion of their length. i. N. plantaginea. 



Perianth colored, ii-2i in. long, stamens free. 



Perianth funnel-form, the tube gradually passing into the limb, from 

 white flushed with lavender to pale lavender. 

 P'lowering stem with leaves or with leaf-like bracts, these gradually 

 passing into the bracts of the inflorescence; leaf-blades 

 green. 

 Leaf-blades lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, usually equally nar- 

 rowed at both ends, the nerves on each side of the midrib 

 3-5; perianth usually less than 2 in. long. 2. N. japonica. 

 Leaf-blades broadly ovate, the nerves on each side of the mid- 

 rib 6-10; perianth usually 2 in. long or more. 



3. N. undulata. 

 Flowering stem naked, or sometimes with a single bract at the 

 middle ; leaf-blades glaucous. 

 Scape not or but little exceeding the leaves; petioles usually 

 much exceeding the blades. 4. N. Sieboldiana. 



Scape much exceeding the leaves; petioles usually not exceed- 

 ing the blades. 5. A''. Fortunei. 

 Perianth campanulate-funnel-form, the tube abruptly passing into the 

 limb, blue. 6. A'', coerulea. 



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