ACIDANTHEItA 



THE BULB BOOK 



ACIDANTHERA 



of Acliimenes to many of which 

 names were at one time given. The 

 flowers exhibit numerous shades of 

 colour such as white, crimson, purple, 

 mauve, scarlet, rose, carmine, yellow, 

 blue, violet, and intermediate shades, 

 many being self-coloured, while others 

 again are beautifully blotched and 

 speckled. 



Apart from the garden varieties, 

 the following are a few of the best 

 natural species : — 



A. grandiflora. — lift. Leaves oval, 

 slightly toothed. Flowers violet- 

 purple, large. Mexico. {Bot.Mag.t. 

 4012.) 



A. hirsuta. — 2i ft. Leaves heart- 

 shaped, toothed. Flowers rose with 

 a yellow centre. Guatemala. {BoL 

 Mag. t. 4144.) 



A. longiflora. — 1 to H ft. Leaves in 

 circles of three or four, oval-oblong, 

 coarsely toothed. Flowers violet. 

 {Bot. Mag. t. 3980.) 



A. multlflora. — 12 to 18 ins. Leaves 

 opposite or whorled, oval, deeply 

 toothed. Flowers pale lilac. Brazil. 

 {Bot. Mag. t. 3993.) 



A. tubiflora. — lift. Leaves oblong, 

 pointed, obscurely toothed. Flowers 

 pure white, with a tube about 4 ins. 

 long. Buenos Ayres. Once known as 

 Gloxinia tuhiflora. {Bot. Mag. t. 

 3971.) 



ACIDANTHERA {aids, a point; 

 anthera, an anther or pollen sac ; 

 referring to the shape). Nat. Ord. 

 Iridese. — A genus containing a dozen 

 species or more of S. African plants 

 having smooth or fibrous-coated corms, 

 usually erect, simple stems, bearing 

 a few fiat, linear, veined leaves. The 

 plants are closely related to the 

 Babianas, and may be grown in the 

 same way in a cool greenhouse in 

 pots of sandy loam and leaf-soil. 

 They require a fair amount of water 

 during growth, but the soil should 



be kept practically quite dry during 

 the resting season. Increased l)y ofi"- 

 sets. 



A. aequinoctialis. — A remarkable 

 species from the mountains of Sierra 

 Leone. It has stems about 4 ft. 

 high, and sword-like leaves 20 ins. 

 long. The fiowers are white, with 

 a triangular crimson blotch at the 

 base of each segment, and are about 

 3 ins. across, with a tube 6 ins. long. 

 {Bot. Mag. t. 7393; Gard. Chron. 

 1893, xiv. 682.) 



A. bicolor.- — A native of the Abys- 

 sinian Mountains and the Zambesi, 

 having corms about an inch thick. 



57 



Fig. S5.—Acidanthera Mcolor. 



and fiower-stems 1 to U ft. high, 

 bearing white starry flowers, having a 

 triangular purple blotch at the base. 

 (Fig. 35.) 



A. Candida. — A fine species from 

 the woodless grassy steppes of the Altai 

 Plains in Eastern Tropical Africa. 

 It has roundish corms and slender 

 stems 1 to H ft. high, furnished with 

 narrow, pointed, stiffish, green leaves 

 with a prominent midrib on both 



