SPKEKELIA 



THE BULB BOOK 



STENOMESSON 



treated like the IXIAS. They like 

 warm, sheltered spots, well-drained 

 sandy soil, and should be planted in 

 large clumps to secure an effect. The 

 best way to increase them is by off- 

 sets from the older bulbs when the 

 leaves have died down. 



S. bulbifera (Ixia bidbi/era). A 

 pretty species 6 to 12 ins. high, with 

 two-ranked lance-shaped leaves, and 

 yellow bell-shaped flowers, having 

 the spathes striped with purple at 

 the tips (Hot. Mag. t. 545; Red. 

 Lil. t. 128). Best grown in frame or 

 greenhouse. 



S. grandiflora. A fine species 1 to 

 2 ft. high, with lance-shaped pointed 

 leaves, and deep violet-purple flowers 

 in April and May, the wedged-shaped 

 segments often having a deeper 

 coloured blotch at the base (Bot. 

 Mag. tt. 779, 541, Ixia.) 



There are several varieties of this 

 species, one called liliago, having 

 white flowers; another lineata, with 

 yellow flowers lined and washed with 

 rose ; and stellaris, a fine purple. 



S. pulcherrima is now known as 

 DIERAMA which see. 



S. tricolor. This species resembles 

 S. grandiflora in appearance, but has 

 rich orange-red flowers with a yellow 

 centre, and a purple-brown blotch at 

 the base of the segments (Bot. Mag. 

 tt. 381 (Ixia), 1482). 



There are several varieties, such as 

 blanda, white, suffused with red and 

 yellow; Griffini, yellow tipped with 

 violet-purple; and versicolor, bright 

 purple with a yellow blotch at the 

 base. 



SPBEKELIA (after Dr Sprekel, a 

 German botanist). Nat. Ord. Amaryl- 

 lideae. The only species in this 

 genus is 



S/ forinosissima (Amaryllis formo- 

 sissima), JACOB^A LILY. A distinct 

 and beautiful plant from Guatemala 



420 



and Mexico, having bulbs about 2 

 ins. thick, narrow strap-shaped leaves 

 12 to 18 ins. long, and bright crimson 

 irregular wavy flowers, each about 

 6 ins. across, borne on stems 6 to 12 

 ins. high. The three upper segments 

 of the perianth are distinctly clawed, 

 the middle one being broader than 

 the others, while the three other seg- 

 ments droop (Bot. Mag. t. 47). 



There are varieties such as ylaucn, 

 with glaucous leaves and paler 

 flowers; Karwinski, in which the 

 petals are keeled and edged with 

 white; and ringens, in which the 

 upper petal is striped at the base and 

 centre with yellow. 



The Jacobsea Lily if planted in the 

 outside border about May will flower 

 in the open air during the summer 

 months. The bulbs, however, should 

 be taken up in the autumn and stored 

 till the following spring. Generally 

 speaking, it is too tender for open-air 

 treatment altogether except in the 

 very mildest parts of the Kingdom. 

 It may, however, be easily grown in 

 a greenhouse in a compost of rich 

 sandy loam, with a little peat or leaf- 

 soil, and some old cow-manure. The 

 plants are increased by offsets from 

 the old bulbs. 



STENOMESSON ( stenos, narrow ; 

 messon, the middle ; the flowers being 

 contracted in the middle). Nat. Ord. 

 Amaryllidese. A genus containing 

 about a dozen species of pretty 

 bulbous plants, all natives of the 

 Andes of Peru and Ecuador, at an 

 altitude of 8000 to 13,000 ft. The 

 leaves are narrow, strap-shaped, or 

 lance-shaped, and the flowers (few or 

 many) are borne in an umbel on top 

 of a scape. The perianth is funnel- 

 shaped, often somewhat contracted 

 from the base to the middle. 



These bulbous plants, if not alto- 

 gether hardy, except in the most 



