KIDNEY BEAN 



KIDNEY BEAN. Common name in Englaiui for the 

 common beans in distinction from the Liima bean, the 

 former being Phaseolun vulgaris, the latter P. lunatus. 



KIDNEY VETCH. See AntJiyllis. 



KINGNUT. r.irya stileatu. 



KIN-KAN. See Kumquat. 



KINNIKINNICK. Dry bark of Cnr/iH.s- Amnmum. 

 smoked by western Indians. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. See VegelabU Gardenimj, 

 <Janlens, and Horticulture, 



KLEINIA. Of the 3 genera of Compositae of this 

 name, 2 are referred to Porophyllura and .Jauraea, but 

 the trade names will be accounted tor under Seiieciii. 



KNAPWEED. See Centauren. 



KNIGHT'S STAE. Hippeastrum eqiiesire. 



KNIPHOFIA (Johaun Hieronymus Kniphot, 1704- 

 17li."i, |>rotessor at Erfurt). LiliAcew. This genus in- 

 cludes the Red-hot Poker Plant (Fig. 12U), which is 

 unique in its appearance and one of the most striking 

 plants in common cultivation. No one who has ever 

 seen its pyramidal spike of blazing red lis. borne in au- 

 tumn is likely to forget when and where he "discovered" 

 this plant. It is herbaceous and nearly hardy N., has 

 sword-shaped lvs.2-3 ft. long, and several scapes i or 

 5 ft. high surmounted by a spike 4-8 in. long composed 

 of perhaps 100 tubular, drooping fls., each 1 in. or more 

 long, and fiery, untamed red. A sky-rocket is not more 

 startling. By far the commonest species is K. aloides, 

 which has perhaps a dozen varieties with Latin names 

 and twice as many with personal names. All the other 

 species have much the same general effect, and are of 

 interest chiefly to collectors and fanciers. Poker Plants 

 are hardy south of Philadelphia when well covered in 

 winter, but in the North it is generally safer to dig up 

 the plants in November, place them in boxes with dry 

 earth, and store them in a cellar in winter. In spring 

 place them in a warm, sheltered, well-drained spot, 

 preferably with a background of shrubbery to set off the 

 flowers. 



The genus is confined to Africa and Madagascar, and 

 all but two of the species numbered below are from 

 south Africa. The plants seem to be still better known 

 to the trade as species of Tritoma, but the following ac- 

 count omits most of such synonyms. Bentham and 

 Hooker placed Kniphofla between Funkia and Notoseep- 

 trum. The latter genus is not in cultivation, and Fun- 

 kia has blue or white fls., which colors are not found in 

 Kniphofla. Poker Plants have fls. of red, orange or yel- 

 low. Bland fordia has similar colors and agrees in hav- 

 ing pendulous tubular fls. with short lobes, and also 

 long, narrow Ivs., but the stamens are fixed at the mid- 

 dle of the tube, and the capsule has septicidal dehis- 

 cence, while in Kniphofla the stamens are fixed under 

 the pistil and the capsule has loculicidal dehiscence. 



Kniphofias are often classed by dealers as bulbous 

 plants, though they have only a short rhizome and nu- 

 merous, clustered, thickish root-fibers. Baker speaks of 

 the "raceme" of a Kniphofia, but the pedicels are so short 

 that the inflorescence is here spoken of as a "spike," par- 

 ticularly as a spike signifies to the popular mind a 

 <lenser inflorescence than a raceme. Most of the spe- 

 cies have been very recently monographed by Baker in 

 Flora Capensis, vol. 6 and Flora of Trop. Afr. vol. 7. 

 When the height of the plants is given below, it refers 

 to the height of the scape. 



Index of names exclusive of those in the supplemen- 

 tary lists (varieties and synonyms in italic) : 

 aloides, 1. corollina, 5. Nelsoni, 4. 



Burchelli, 3. glaucescens, 1. nubilis, 1. 



tarnosa, 1. grandiflora, 1. pauciflora. 8. 



cauleseens, 6. [jrandis, 1. Rooperi, 2. 



comosa, 10. Leichtliiiii, 9. Saundersii, 1. 



•coronianum, 5. 



KNIPHOFIA 



859 



A. Length of perianth 1 in. or more. 

 B. Stemless or nearly so. 



0. Form of Ivs. sword - shaped- 

 acuminate, 

 D. Color of Ivs. dull green. 



E. Width of Ivs. %-l in 1 . aloides 



EE. Width of Ivs. VA in 2. Rooperi 



DD. Color of Ivs, bright green. . .. :i. Burchelli 

 cc. Form of Ivs. linear. 



D. Width of Ivs. one-sixteenth to 



one-twelfth of an inch 4. Nelsoni 



DD. Width of Ivs. one-eighlh to 



one-sixth of an inch .'J. Macowanii 



BB. Stem 6-13 in. long C. caulescenB 



AA. Length of perianth Vi-Vi in, 



B. Form of perianth siihriiliiidririil . . 7. Tuckii 

 BB. Form of perinnlli fmnn t-slnrptd. 

 c. Width of Ivs. .,H,'-,i<ihlli to nne- 



sixth of an inch 8. paucillora 



cc. Width of Ivs. J4 1". 



D. Stamens 1% times as long as 



the perianth 9. Leichtlinii 



DD. Stamens twice as long as the 



perianth 10. comosa 



1. aloides, Moench (K. UvAria, Hook. Tritoma 

 lJvctria,KeT.). Red-hot Poker Plant. Poker Plant. 

 Torch Lily. Flame Flower. Pig. 1211. Lvs. slightly 





1211. Kniphoha aloides. 



Separate flower natural size. 



glaucous, 2-3 ft. long, scabrous on the margin, acutely 

 keeled, with 30-40 close vertical veins: raceme dense, 

 often 6 in. long, 2H-3 in. thick: upper fls. bright red, 

 lower ones yellow; perianth cvlindrical; stamens some- 

 times barely exserted. F.S. i3:l.'i93. B.M. 4816:758.- 

 The following varieties with Latin names are in the 

 trade and usually advertised as apparent species under 

 Kniphofla or Tritoma. They may be all more or less 

 distinct horticulturally. Aneverblooming kind is adver- 

 tised in 1900 and said to flower from June to Dec. Var. 

 camdsa is figured in Gn. 19:280 with the fls. opening from 

 the top instead of the bottom, and with red filaments 

 and yellow anthers. Leichtlin introduced it about 1881 

 and said it grew \Vi-2 ft. high, the apricot-red of the 

 fls. toned down by a glaucous bloom. Var. floribunda is 

 early-flowering, says Van Tubergen. Var. glauca is less 

 known than the next. Var. glaucescens is figured in Gn. 

 36:727 with a spike 9 in. long, of "vermilion-scarlet fls. 

 changing to a more orange color. One of the freest 

 bloomers. Int. 1859." Foliage somewhat glaucous. 

 Var. grandifldra, one of the earliest improvements on the 

 type. John Saul said it grows 2-3 ft. high. Var. grdndis. 

 "The largest-flowered of all; fls. red and yellow, 5 ft." 

 Woolson. Referred by Kew authorities to var. maxima. 

 Var. ndbilis is said by Carrifere, R.H. 1885:252, to have 



