276 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxxii 



at the Royal Horticultural Society, where it was awarded a 

 First Class Certificate, It is a beautiful plant, and well 

 worthy of cultivation for itself. If it takes in hybridisa- 

 tion, it should originate a remarkable race of garden plants. 

 The habit certainly suggests Lilium rather than Fritillaria. 

 How far that is borne out by analysis and comparative 

 investigation will be set forth in what follows here. 



Before passing to this, I must say something of other 

 known forms of Nomocharis. 



Shortly before our plant of 1914, which had rose- 

 coloured flowers, opened its blooms, a plant of the genus 

 Nomocharis, raised from seeds also collected by George 

 Forrest, flowered at Edinburgh in one example only, pro- 

 ducing a large open flower with a white ground spotted 

 maroon all over both sepaline and petaline segments, re- 

 calling, indeed, the colouring of the more spotted varieties 

 of Odontoglossum crispum. In addition, the petaline seg- 

 ments at base were blotched a deep purple-red. From this 

 flower we were fortunate in obtaining seeds— most fortunate, 

 indeed, because by one of these accidents to which in these 

 days we are particularly liable our old plants, both of it 

 and of N. 'pardanthina, were destroyed. In Forrest's dried 

 collections there are specimens of this Nomocharis with 

 white and spotted flowers under Nos. 3845, 7160, and 

 11,624, the flower in 7160 being by far the finest. On his 

 field-tickets Forrest describes the flowers as " satiny white " 

 or " watery white " and spotted, and he also says they are 

 fragrant. (Amongst his specimens is also one under No. 

 3844, of which he writes, " variety with flowers pure white," 

 and the solitary flower bears out the description, showing 

 no spots.) Without doubt a Nomocharis, this plant seems 

 to be a diflerent species from Franchet's N. pardanthina, 

 and the description which I give of it here under the name 

 N. leucantha tells the difl'erence between them. 



N. leucantha, Balf. f.^ 



Bulb scaly narrowly ovate pointed about 3 cm. long and 

 1"5 cm. in diameter. At flowering time coated outside with 



* Nomocharis leucantha, Balf. f. — Bullnis auguste ovato-oblongns, 

 squamis carnosis acuininaLis. Caulis ad 75 cm. alius. Folia ad medium 

 3-6-verticillata iufra et bupra per ])aiia disposita, infJma spaisa, lanceo- 



