BUPHANE 



THE BULB BOOK 



BURBIDGEA 



the bulbs may be lifted from July to 

 September, and the offsets detached 

 and replanted at once 4 to 6 ins. apart 

 and 3 to 4 ins. deep. 



BUPHANE ( bous, an ox ; hone, 

 slaughter ; the bulbs are said to be 

 fatal to cattle). Nat. Ord. Amaryl- 

 lidese. A small genus of no great 

 garden value, closely related to 

 Haemanthus, having large tunicated 

 bulbs, leathery leaves, and numerous 

 red funnel-shaped flowers in umbels. 

 There are only two species, both 

 natives of Cape Colony. They are 

 not quite hardy enough for open-air 

 culture, but grow easily in a green- 

 house in a compost of sandy loam 

 and peat, in the same way as the 

 Brunsvigias. 



E. ciliaris (Amaryllis ciliaris ; ffce- 

 manthus ciliaris; Brunsvigia ciliaris; 

 Coburgia ciliaris; Crossyne ciliare). 

 This species has roundish bulbs 3 

 to 4 ins. in diameter, stiff leathery 

 leaves, 6 to .12 ins. long, thickly 

 ciliated with brown or straw-coloured 

 bristles. From fifty to one hundred 

 dull purple flowers are borne in a 

 dense umbel on a stout scape 4 to 6 

 ins. high. The variety guttata has 

 narrower leaves and longer bristles. 

 (Bot. Beg. t. 1153.) 



B. disticha (B. toxicaria ; Hasman- 

 thus toxicaria; Amaryllis disticha; 

 Brunsvigia toxicaria), The Bush- 

 men's Poison Plant. A species with 

 huge roundish bulbs 6 to 9 ins. in 

 diameter, with many hundreds of thin 

 brown tunics. Leaves 1 to 1^ ft. 

 long, distichous, not ciliated, but 

 often wavy. The deep scarlet sweet- 

 scented flowers are borne in dense 

 umbels 6 to 12 ins. across, on stout 

 compressed stalks 6 to 12 ins. high. 

 (Bot. Mag. t. 1217; Bot. Reg. t. 

 567.) 



From the bulbs of this species the 

 Bushmen of S. Africa express a 



poisonous juice, in which they dip 

 their arrows when bent on killing- 

 raids. 



BURBIDGEA (after F. W. Bur- 

 bidge, late curator of Trinity College 

 Botanic Gardens, Dublin). Nat. Ord. 

 Scitaminese. The only representive 

 of this genus is 



B. nitlda. An ornamental-looking 

 plant, closely related to Alpinia, 3 to 

 4 ft. high, with tufts of erect, roundish 

 stems, furnished with elliptic, lance- 

 shaped pointed leaves 4 to 6 in. long. 

 The bright orange-scarlet flowers are 

 borne in terminal racemes, sometimes 

 as often as three times in one year. 

 (Bot. Mag. t. 6403.) 



FIG. 81. Burlidgea nitida. 



This plant is rarely seen outside 

 botanic gardens. Being a native of 

 N.W. Borneo, it naturally requires 

 plenty of heat and moisture. It must 

 therefore be grown in the stove, with 

 a mininum winter temperature of 65 

 F., and may be treated as a pot plant 

 or placed in a border. It flourishes 

 in loamy soil enriched with a little 

 old cow -manure, and during the 



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