THE AMARYLLIS 261 



genus Hippeastrum. Properly speaking, this 

 genus should not be called amaryllis, as that 

 name belongs to an allied genus with which we 

 shall make acquaintance presently. 



But the various species of Hippeastrum are 

 known universally as amaryllis to the florist, and 

 it will be convenient here to follow the general 

 custom of applying that name to all the members 

 of allied genera that are grouped together horti- 

 culturally and everywhere referred to as if they 

 were of one tribe. 



We shall see presently that the members of the 

 different genera, including not only the hippeas- 

 trums and the genus Amaryllis itself, but also 

 Sprekelia, Crinum, and Brunsuigia, have been 

 variously hybridized in the course of my experi- 

 ments. Thus the affinity suggested by their sim- 

 ilarity of appearance is demonstrated, justifying 

 at least in a measure the convenient horticultural 

 custom of applying the familiar name amaryllis 

 to all of them. 



Peculiar interest and probably exceptional im- 

 portance attaches to the fact that the first group 

 of plants of this tribe with which I experimented 

 included the forms of cultivated amaryllis known 

 as Hippeastrum Johnsoni, H. vittatum, and H. 

 regince. The significance of this lies in the fact 

 that although these are plants of quite different 



