NEMESIA 



2119 



NEMASTYLIS (Greek, thread-like styles, because the 

 styles are not united). Syn., Nemastylus. Iriddcese. 

 Tender American bulbs, with blue six-lobed flowers 

 about an inch across which last only a day. 



Erect plants, with slender, usually branched sts. : 

 root-lvs. linear: spathes 1 or more, peduncled: fls. rather 

 large, more than 1 to a spathe; perianth of 6 segms. 

 without a tube; inner segms. a little smaller than the 

 outer; ovary 3-celled; filaments more or less united; 

 anthers short; ovules many, superposed; style-branches 

 alternate with the anthers: caps, loculicidally 3-valved, 

 oblong, ovoid or obovoid. Strictly, Nemastylis is a 

 genus of 3 species, found only in the S. U. S. and char- 

 acterized by having the filaments nearly free. Baker, 

 however, in his Handbook of the Iridea?, includes Chlam- 

 ydostylis as a subgenus of 17 species found from 

 Mex. to S. Amer. and characterized by having the fila- 

 ments united in a column to the summit. Some of the 

 following species have been rarely advertised by dealers 

 in native plants; the others by Dutch bulb-growers. 



A. Filaments nearly free. (Subgenus Nemastylis proper.) 

 B. Cluster of fls. single: spathes usually 1-fld. 



ccelestina, Nutt. Root-lvs. 1-2, 1 ft. or more long: 

 st. 1^2-2 ft. long, bearing 3^4 reduced Ivs. : fls. sky- 

 blue. Pine barrens, Fla. to Ga., and westward through 

 Texas. Differs from N. acuta in having more broadly 

 ovate perianth-lobes. 



BB. Clusters of fls. 2-3: spathes 2-3-fld. 

 acuta, Herb. (N. geminiflora, Nutt.). NORTHERN 

 NEMASTYLIS. Root-lvs. 2-3, J^-l ft. long: st. ^ ft. 

 long, bearing 1 large linear If. at the fork, and some- 

 times another below it: fls. bright blue or purple: bulb 

 dark colored, ovoid, scaly, 1 in. or less long: caps, 

 obovoid. Texas, to Mo., La., and Kans., Ark. and 

 Tenn. B.M. 6666. F.S. 21:2171. 



AA. Filaments united in a column to the summit. 



(Subgenus Chlamydostylis.) 

 B. Fls. brownish purple, inner segms. tipped yellow. 



brunnea, Wats. St. 1 ft. long, bearing a single If. 

 6-8 in. long and a sheathing bract at the base of the 

 peduncle: spathe 2 l /z in. long, several-fld. : outer per- 

 ianth-segms. obtuse, inner ones acuminate, brown-pur- 

 ple, the inner segms. tipped yellow; anthers yellow. 

 Mex. 



BB. Fls. pale blue. 



Pringlei, Wats. St. usually simple, with a single If. 

 at the middle: radical Ivs. shorter than st., 2-3-nerved: 

 spathe 13^ in. long: fls. fragrant; outer segms. obtuse, 

 inner ones minutely apiculate, pale blue: caps, oblong. 

 Mex., province of Chihuahua. WILHELM MILLER. 



A. C. HoTTES-t 



NEMESIA (old name used by Dioscorides for some 

 sort of snapdragon). Scrophulariacese. The genus in- 

 cludes attractive flower-garden half-hardy annuals. 



Herbs annual or perennial, sometimes undershrubs, 

 the annual kinds having come into cult: Ivs. opposite: 

 fls. very variable in color, from yellow to white and 

 purple, in terminal racemes or axillary (racemose in the 

 garden kinds), the pedicels bractless; calyx 5-parted; 

 corolla with short tube which in front bears a spur or 

 pouch; corolla-limb 2-lipped, the upper or posterior 

 lip 4-notched or -cleft and the lower or anterior of one 

 shallow-notched or entire lobe with palate at base; 

 stamens 4, didynamous, the anthers 1-celled and usually 

 cohering about the stigma; ovary 2-celled: caps, with 

 boat-shaped valves. Species about 50, of which a very 

 few are Trop. African and the remainder S. African. 

 Cf. Hiern, Flora Capensis, IV: II (1904). N. strumosa 

 was one of the horticultural novelties in the last part 

 of the 19th century. The fls. are very distinct in shape 

 and have a wide range of color. They are about an 

 inch across and borne in great profusion. If started 



indoors in March and transferred to the open in May 

 the plants will furnish continuous bloom from June to 

 Sept. The colors range from white, through pale yel- 

 low and rose, to orange and crimson, with numerous 

 intermediate shades and a great variety of throat mark- 

 ings. This species has been known to botanists nearly a 

 whole century; it grows only 50 miles from Cape Town, 

 and it exhibits all these colors in the wild, yet it was 

 never exploited until 1893, the first live plants seen in 

 Eu. being shown in 1892. Sixteen distinct color varie- 

 ties were recognized in the first batch of cult, plants, 

 and the process of selecting strains has probably only 

 begun. The nemesias are of easy cult. They may 

 stand about 6 in. apart in the garden beds. 



A. Fls. with a sac or pouch at the base. 

 strumosa, Benth. Fig. 2457. Erect, branches, 4-an- 

 gled, glabrous below and more or less pilose above, 6-24 

 in. high: root-lvs. oblong-spatulate, entire or dentate; 

 st.-lvs. lanceolate or linear, dentate, sessile: racemes in 

 wild plants, 2-4 in. long, 

 terminal, becoming sub- 

 corymbose and after- 

 ward elongating; fls. 

 white or in shades of 

 yellow and purple, often 

 purple - marked on the 

 outside, the bearded 

 throat spotted on a yel- 

 low ground; upper lip 

 about Hin. long and 

 often 1 in. broad; lower 

 lip about 1 in. broad: 

 caps. 4-4) lines long, 3-^4 

 lines wide. S. Afr. B. 

 M. 7272. G.C. III. 12: 

 277. R.H. 1898, p. 87 

 ( var. grandiflora ) . V. 

 16:7. G. 31:315. It 

 varies into a number of 

 forms, some of them 

 compact. Var. Suttonii, 

 Hort., is a series of im- 

 proved forms, with large 

 fls. of many colors, pale 

 yellow, rose-pink, white, 



rich orange, crimson and 2457. Nemesia strumosa. 

 scarlet being now offered ( x 1 A) 



separately. G. M. 35: 

 459; 43:311. Gn.W. 9:289; 18:637. J.H. III. 51:58. 



AA. F Is. with a spur at the base. 



versicolor, E. Mey. Erect or ascending, nearly gla- 

 brous below and slightly pilose above, simple or 

 branched, 1 ft. or more high: lowest Ivs. somewhat 

 stalked and ovate or narrower; upper Ivs. few, sessile, 

 oblong, lanceolate or linear, entire or toothed: racemes 

 sub-corymbose and lengthening, 1-3 in. long in the wild; 

 fls. "variable in color, either white and striate outside 

 or cinnabar-red, striate outside and sulphur-coloured 

 on the throat or sulphur-colored and not striate" 

 (Hiern); lobes of the upper lip equal among them- 

 selves and as long as the lower lip; throat with 2 cal- 

 losities, pubescent; spur incurved or nearly straight, 

 about as long as the lower lip. S. Afr. Var. compacta, 

 Hort. (N. compacta, Hort.). A compact and attractive 

 free-flowering race, 8 in. to 1 ft., excellent for borders 

 and rock-gardens, with fls. in white, rose, violet, and 

 blue. Var. compacta tricolor, Hort., has white, rose, 

 and violet in the fls. R.H. 1898, p. 87. 



floribunda, Lehm. Erect, 6-15 in., glabrous below 

 and somewhat pilose above, the sts. 4-angled : lower Ivs. 

 stalked, oval or ovate, dentate; upper ones few, small, 

 ovate or lanceolate, subsessile: racemes rather open, 

 subcprymbose or oblong, 1-5 in. long in the wild; fls. 

 whitish; upper corolla-lobes oblong, very short; lower 



