APRIL.] FLOWER-GARDEN JACOBEA LILY. 207 



AMARYLLIS FORMOSISSIMA, OR JACOBEA LILY. 



About the end of this or beginning of next month, is 

 the most proper time fpr planting out these bulbs. 

 This flower is of the most beautiful and rich crimson 

 velvet colour. The bulb generally produces two stems, 

 the one after the other, about the end of May or first 

 of June. The stem is from nine inches to one foot 

 high, surmounted by a single flower, composed of six 

 petals, three hanging down, three erect and recurved; 

 the stamens droop on the centre of the under petals. 

 The flower thus appears nodding on one side of the stem, 

 and has a most graceful and charming appearance. 

 If planted in a bed, prepare the ground as before direct- 

 ed for Tuberoses. Keep the rows one foot asunder, and 

 the bulbs six inches apart in the rows, covering them 

 two inches over their crowns. This plant is now 

 called Spreikelia formosissima, and we think properly 

 too, for its habit differs from Amaryllis. 



We have not the smallest doubt that in a few years, 

 not only this superb South American bulb will adorn 

 our flower gardens, but many of the rich bulbs of Brazil 

 and South America generally will yearly exhibit to us 

 the beauty of their colours and the beautiful construc- 

 tion of their flowers and foliage, of which we are now 

 generally deprived, perhaps because we have not the 

 conveniency of a proper hot-house for their protection 

 during winter. But it will be found, in many instances, 

 that these bulbs will do perfectly well to be kept dry in 

 a warm room from October to May, when the heat of 

 our summer is sufficient for the perfection of their 



