THE AMARYLLIS 273 



amaryllis hybrids with plants of other allied 

 genera, notably with Sprekelia and Crinum. 



The Sprekelia is represented by a single 

 species indigenous to Mexico and sometimes 

 called the Jacobean lily. It has long, slender, 

 strap-shaped leaves, and a showy crimson flower 

 of an unusual form that suggests a bird in flight. 



I have grown seedlings and made selections of 

 the Sprekelia more or less for twenty years, 

 raising probably a hundred thousand seedlings, 

 but succeeded only once in hybridizing the plant 

 with the production of fertile offspring. 



The hybrid amaryllis that made union with the 

 Jacobean lily was my new vittatum type, having 

 pale red flowers striped with white. Only a 

 single hybrid of this union bloomed, but from 

 this a few seedlings were grown. 



The hybrid offspring of these plants of differ- 

 ent genera had long, narrow, strap-shaped leaves 

 much like those of SprekeUa (the pollen parent) , 

 but the blossoms were very much larger than 

 those of that plant, and they had very curiously 

 twisted petals, unlike those of either parent. 



As might be expected in the offspring of 

 plants so widely separated, the hybrids were 

 almost infertile. As already noted, only a single 

 variety bore blossoms, and although the blossoms 

 were produced almost continuously throughout 



