2136 



NEPHTHYTIS 



NERINE 



NEPHTirSTIS (name borrowed from Egyptian 

 mythology; Nephthys, mother of Amibis, wife of 

 Typhon). Aracese. Tropical African creepers, two of 

 which are cultivated in hothouses for their variegated 

 foliage. 



Leaves more or less halberd-shaped or arrow-shaped, 

 with scarcely any sheath on the petiole: infl. terminal; 

 spathe concave-expanded; ovary 1 -celled; ovule soli- 

 tary, pendulous. About half a dozen species. 



picturata, N. E. Br. The white markings form a pat- 

 tern resembling the tips of fern fronds laid between the 

 nerves, with their points all directed toward the base 

 of the midrib: plant stemless, spreading by runners: 

 petioles 10-12 in. long; blade 6-12 in. long, 5-9 in. 

 broad. Congo. Var. angustata, N. E. Br., has smaller 

 and narrower Ivs. Figured in catalogues of U. S. 

 Nurseries, 1895. 



triphylla, Hort. "A pretty stove creeper with dark 

 green thrice-divided Ivs. marked with greenish white 

 in the exact shape of the If." 



Afzelii, Schott (N. liberica, N. E. Br.). Lvs. glabrous, 

 the petiole 7-20 in. long, 1-2 in. thick, the blade 

 sagittate, the portion in front of petiole-insertion up to 

 10 in. long, the basal lobes up to 6 in. long: spathe green, 

 in. long. W. Trop. Afr. GEORGE V. 



NEPTUNIA (Neptune, god of the sea: some of the 

 species are aquatic). Leguminbsx. Perennial herbs, or 

 subshrubs, often floating, one of which is an aquarium 

 plant. 



Unarmed, prostrate or diffuse, the branches usually 

 flattened or triquetrous: Ivs. bipmnate, sometimes sen- 

 sitive, the Ifts. small: fls. not papilionaceous, perfect 



2474. Nerine curvifolia 

 var. Fothergillii. 



(XH) 



or polygamous, in spikes or heads on axillary pedun- 

 cles; calyx 5-lobed; petals 5, distinct or somewhat 

 cohering; stamens 10 or 5, exserted: pod oblong, oblique, 

 2-valved, somewhat septate between the ovate com- 

 pressed seeds. Species perhaps a dozen, widely spread 

 in the tropics; a few of them are in the extreme south- 

 ern U. S. and are plants of moist or even dry soil. 



plena, Benth. (Mimosa plena, Linn. Desmdnthus 

 plenus, Willd.). Natant, with prostrate sts., foliage 

 sensitive and much like that of the common sensitive 



Elant, Mimosa pitdica: the fls. are so odd that one at 

 rst sight would not imagine that they belong to the 

 legume family. They are small and collected in an 

 ovoid head, 1 ^ x 1 in. and borne singly on stalks 6 in. 

 long. These heads or spikes are drooping and harve 

 numerous stamens. The singular feature of these fls. 

 is a mass of yellow petalage composed of 6 or more 

 tiers of reflexed narrowly lanceolate bodies, which are 

 really transformed and sterile stamens. The plant 

 floats on pools and has grooved sts., the part under 

 water being white, spongy and full of air-cells. Lvs. 

 alternate and far apart; Ifts. many, crowded, linear, 

 obtuse. It is of difficult cult, and can probably not be 

 secured in the trade at present. It grows in the E. 

 Indies and S. Amer., and Mex. and elsewhere. B.M. 

 4695. B.R. 32:3. L H B 



NERINE (a nereid of Greek mythology). Amarylli- 

 daceae. Handsome autumn-flowering bulbs from South 

 Africa. 



Bulb tunicated, mostly without a neck: Ivs. appear- 

 ing after the fls. or with them, usually strap-shaped : fls. 

 in shades of red and pink (varying to white), in few- or 

 many-fld. umbels on a slender or robust scape; spat he- 

 valves beneath the umbel 2, lanceolate; perianth funnel- 

 form, very deeply cut or divided, erect or somewhat 

 decurved, the 6 segms. equal, narrow and more or less 

 crisped or undulate; stamens 6, usually unequal, 

 declined or nearly erect, bearing versatile anthers; 

 style long and slender, straight or somewhat declined: 

 fr. a globose 3-lobed and 3-valved caps., with seeds 1 or 

 few in each cell. Species 15-18, in Afr. from the 

 Transvaal and Kalahari south to Cape of Good Hope. 

 Monographed by Baker, Flora Capensis, vi (1896-7), 

 from which the following descriptive account is mostly 

 drawn. 



Nerine is a remarkable genus of tender 

 bulbous plants, of which the commonest 

 species is N. sarniensis, long known as the 

 Guernsey lily from the island where these 

 bulbs are grown to perfection. The win- 

 ter is their growing season instead of 

 flowering time. They belong to the very 

 small class of autumn-blooming bulbs. 

 The common kinds flower from Septem- 

 ber to November without any foliage, and 

 the leaves are developed all winter. About 

 May the leaves die down and the bulbs 

 rest from May to August. The leaves 

 appear after the flowers in two or three 

 species, but with the flowers in the others. 

 The flowers range from scarlet through salmon and pink 

 shades to white, and are borne in umbels of four 

 to twenty flowers, on scapes varying from 1 to 3 

 feet long and averaging l)^ feet. A trade name is 

 Nerine japonica, which is really a Lycoris; it has black 

 seeds, while all the true nerines have green seeds. It 

 has, however, the autumn-blooming habit and flowers 

 of the same general appearance as the true nerines. 

 The nerines have two distinct types of beauty, illus- 

 trated by Figs. 2474 and 2475. The kinds with 

 the narrow perianth-segments, which are crisped or 

 fluted, have a spidery look and are not so popular 

 as the kinds with broad, flat segments, which make a 

 showier cluster of flowers. The segments vary from 

 T2 to ^2 inch in width. The showiest kinds are hy- 



