142 Cornell Extension Bulletin 9 



G. grandis Thunb. (Large Brown Afrikander) . is found in the western 

 part of Cape Colony, where it flowers in the spring. The larger flowers 

 are sweet-scented in the evening. The perianth is yellowish, more or 

 less tinged with purplish brown. The flowers vary from one to five, on 

 stems from two to two and one-half feet long. The two or three leaves 

 are strongly ribbed. The corms are small, from one-half to three-fourths 

 inch in diameter. 



Marloth (19 15) distinguishes between G. recurvus and G. maculatus 

 Sweet (Small Brown Afrikander). The latter, though similar in shape 

 and color of flower to G. grandis, is only about half the size, and flowers 

 in the autumn (May- June in the South Temperate Zone). The color 

 is a deeper brown. Marloth says it is readily known by its extremely 

 strong, almost narcotic, scent, which is especially noticeable in the evening. 

 Baker makes G. maculatus Sweet a synonym of G. recurvus, but Marloth 

 says G. recurvus has a pleasing fragrance and a different season of flowering, 

 as well as a different form of leaves. 



G. oppositiflorus Herb, is found in Transkeian Kaffraria, not, as Herbert 

 supposed, in Madagascar; no collector has found it in the latter country. 

 The corms are large. The leaves are from three to four in number, some- 

 times as many as six, crowded, ensiform, glabrous, and shorter than the 

 stem. The whole plant is usually three feet tall, and occasionally five 

 feet. The flowers number from thirty to forty in a dense, two-ranked 

 spike. The flowers are large, and white with mauve-purple or amethyst 

 stripes. Van Fleet says this species is of tall growth, bearing from eighteen 

 to twenty-four blooms almost simultaneously, of delicate peach and white 

 tints. The species has been looked upon as the parent of the light-colored 

 gandavensis forms, and plant breeders have sought to obtain the long- 

 desired, meritorious, pure white variety by continued crossing of the best 

 white varieties with the purest white seedlings of this species. The results 

 indicate that such pure whites as have been obtained are of low vitality 

 and reproducing power. 



This species was described by Dean Herbert (1842), but had already 

 been noted by him in his work on the Amaryllidaceae in 1837. Herbert 

 called attention to the fact that the species was sold by Dutch nurserymen 

 under the name of G. floribundus, an old name for a different plant — 

 G. floribundus Jacq. The same plant was known as G. flabellifer Tausch, 

 and Tausch (1836) states that G. floribundus Hort. Holland (non Jacq.) 

 is a synonym. The citation of the same synonym seems to leave little 

 doubt that the same species was under consideration, especially when 

 there is nothing contrary in the descriptions. 



The reference just given indicates some of the difficulty of deteiTnining 

 what species were used in hybridizing. An illustration of G. oppositiflorus 



