1752 



KNIPHOFIA 



KNIPHOFIA 



from midsummer. The common kinds are hardy 

 south of Philadelphia when well covered in winter, but 

 in the North it is usually 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, perhaps 

 with a background of shrubbery to set off the flowers. 

 Some of the recent species from tropical Africa are 

 treated as greenhouse or warmhouse subjects. In 

 general cultivation the prevailing species is K. Uvaria. 

 This is nearly hardy North, has sword-shaped leaves 

 2 to 3 feet long, and several scapes 4 or 5 feet high 

 surmounted by a spike 4 to 8 inches long composed of 

 perhaps 100 tubular, drooping flowers, each 1 inch or 

 more long, and fiery red. It has perhaps a dozen 

 varieties with Latin names and twice as many with 

 personal names. Most other species have much the 

 same general effect, and recent variations and apparent 

 hybrids have greatly extended the blooming season and 

 the range of color and form. For producing mass- 

 effects, the torch-lilies are among the most striking 

 subjects, the brilliant flowers producing a 

 flame of color. Clumps in open sunny places 

 are particularly emphatic. 



The miniature-flowered torch-lilies are ex- 

 cellent for planting in small beds and near 

 the front borders and also for cutting. They 

 begin to bloom as early as June. The plants 

 are mostly small, the racemes not so mas- 

 sive, and the flowers small and short. It is 

 probable that such species as K. Nelsonii, K. 

 pauciflora, K. rufa, K. breviflora have entered 

 into them. 



Under cultivation, the kniphofias appear to 

 hybridize very freely through the agency of 

 bees, and seedlings therefore may not be true 

 to the parent from which they came. The 

 result is that there is much 

 confusion in the literature 

 of the genus, and it is often 

 very difficult to trace the 

 original species-forms. 



They grow readily from 

 seeds, and novel forms are 

 likely to be secured from 

 the mixed garden parent- 

 age. The plants should 

 bloom freely the second 

 year, and often the first 

 year. The usual method of 

 propagation is by division; 

 the caulescent kinds, how- 

 ever, may not produce off- 

 sets or divisible parts readily 

 unless they are headed back 

 or cut off to make them 

 spread . Kniphofias are often 

 classed by dealers as bulb- 



2039. Kniphofia Uvaria. 



ous plants, though they have only a short rhizome and 

 numerous, clustered, thickish root-fibers. Old but 

 vigorous plants of the K. Uvaria kind divide easily, 

 and give large strong pieces. 



alooides, 3. 

 aurea, 18. 

 breviflora, 16. 

 Burchellii, 5. 

 carnosa, 3. 

 caulescens, 1. 

 citrina, 23. 

 comosa, 17. 

 corallina, 11. 

 floribunda, 3. 

 foliosa, 27. 

 glauca, 3. 

 glaucescens, 3. 

 gracilis, 22. 

 grandiflora, 3. 

 grandia, 3. 



INDEX. 

 kewensis, 10. 

 Leichtlinii, 18. 

 longicollis, 6. 

 longiflora, 13. 

 Macowanii, 11. 

 maroccana, 11. 

 maxima, 3. 

 media, 11. 

 modesta, 14. 

 multiflora, 19. 

 natalensis, 12. 

 Nelsonii, 10. 

 nobilis, 3. 

 Northise, 2. 

 pauciflora, 20. 



prxcox,, 3. 

 primulina, 8. 

 pumila, 21. 

 QiMrtiniana, 27. 

 refulgens, 3. 

 rigidissima, 11. 

 Rooperi, 4. 

 rufa, 24. 

 sarmentosa, 7. 

 Saundersii, 3. 

 serotina, 3. 

 sparsa, 15. 

 triangularis, 9. 

 Tuckii, 25. 

 [list. Tysonii, 26. 



Pfilzeri, 3; also suppl. Uvaria, 3. 



A. Perianth long, an inch or more. (Nos. 1-13.) 

 B. Plant caulescent (a st. or caudex below the If .-crown). 



1. caulescens, Baker. Plant with a thick st. below 

 the Ivs., 6-12 in. long: Ivs. very glaucous, sword-shaped- 

 acuminate, broadly channelled, not acutely keeled on 

 the back, 2-3 ft. long, 2-3 in. wide, margin serrulate: 

 spike about Yi ft. long, 3 in. thick; lower fls. yellow, 

 upper ones red; segms. broad, ovate and obtuse, very 

 short; stamens and style somewhat exserted. Cent. 

 Cape region. B.M. 5946. G.C. III. 6:564. R.H. 

 1887:132 (as Tritoma caulescens). Gn. 41:536; 78, p. 

 502. G. 36:83. Gn.W. 16:443. G.M. 57:555. 



2. Northiae, Baker. St. short, 2-3 in. diam. : Ivs. 30-40, 

 in a dense rosette, 4-5 ft. long and 5-6 in. broad, lance- 

 acuminate, channelled on the face, not sharply keeled, 

 margins serrulate: raceme or spike 1 ft. and more long, 

 very dense, on a peduncle shorter than the Ivs.; fls. 1 

 in. long, the lower ones yellow and the upper ones red 

 toward the tip; segms. small and ovate; stamens 

 becoming much exserted. Coast region. S. Afr. B.M. 



7412. G.C. III. 39:100. Gn. 73, p. 480. 



BB. Plant acaulescent (no caudex below the 



mass of Ivs.). 



c. Lvs. ensiform-acuminate. 

 D. Stamens barely exserted in full anthesis. 



E. Color of Ivs. dull green. 



3. Uvaria, Hook. (Aide Uvaria, Linn. Aletris 

 Uvaria, Linn. Tritoma Uvaria, Ker-Gawl. Velt- 

 helmia Uvaria, Willd. K. alooides, Moench). 

 TORCH-LILY. COMMON POKER PLANT. POKER- 

 PLANT. FLAME-FLOWER. Figs. 2039, 2040. Lvs. 

 slightly glaucous, ensiform-acuminate, 2-3 ft. 

 long and 1 in. or less broad, scabrous on the 

 margin, acutely keeled, with 30-40 close vertical 

 veins: raceme dense, often 6 in. long, 2*^-3 in. 

 thick, on a peduncle as long 

 as the Ivs.; upper fls. bright 

 red, lower ones yellow; 

 perianth cylindrical, to 1H 

 in. long; segms. ovate and 

 obtuse; stamens in the lower 

 fls. barely exserted. General 

 Cape region. F.S. 13 : 1393. 

 B.M. 758; 4816. The fol- 

 lowing varieties with Latin 

 names are in the trade and 

 usually advertised as ap- 

 parent species under Kni- 

 phofia or Tritoma. They 

 may be all more or less 

 distinct horticulturally . 

 Var. carndsa, in Gn. 

 19:548, with the fls. open- 

 ing from the top instead 

 of the bottom, and with 

 red filaments and yellow 

 anthers. Leichtlin intro. it about 1881 and said it grew 

 1 J^-2 ft. high, the apricot-red of the fls. toned down by 

 a glaucous bloom. (Cf. No. 17.) Var. floribunda is early- 

 flowering. Var. glauca is apparently a trade name. 

 Var. glaucescens is figured in Gn. 36:458 with a spike 

 9 in. long, of "vermilion-scarlet fls. changing to a 

 more orange color; one of the freest bloomers. Intro. 

 1859." Foliage somewhat glaucous. Var. grandiflora, 

 one of the earliest improvements on the type: 2-3 ft. 

 high. Var. grandis. Large-fld.; fls. red and yellow, 5 ft. 

 The plant in the trade as K. Pfitzeri probably belongs 

 here; see also suppl. list, p. 1755. Var. nobilis is said 

 by Carriere, R.H. 1885:252, to have shorter and 

 stricter Ivs. than var. Saundersii, the spikes more 

 ovoid, the fls. uniformly red and less deflexed. Lvs. 

 not glaucous. Gn. 55, p. 167. Var. Saundersii, in 

 R.H. 1882:504, is shown with "red-orange fls." in 

 an elliptical spike and said to grow 6 ft. and more 



