ANT 



ANT 



and three-valved capsule : the seeds numerous 

 and angular. 



The species are numerous, but those that 

 most deserve cultivation are : 1 . A. revolutum, 

 Curled-flowered Anthericum ; 2. yl. ramosvm, 

 Branching Anthericum ; 3. A. elatum, Tall An- 

 thericum ; 4. A. Liliago, Grass-leaved Anthe- 

 ricum ; 5. A. Litiastrum, Savoy Anthericum, 

 or Spider-wort ; b*. A. frutescens, Shrubby An- 

 thericum ; 7. A. ahoides, Aloe-leaved Anthe- 

 ricum ; 8. A.asphodeloides, Mock Asphodel, or 

 Glaucous-leaved Anthericum. 



In the first the roots are fleshy, and composed 

 of tubers joined at the crown, like those of the 

 Asphodel : the stalk rises near two feet high, and 

 branches out on each side ; each branch being 

 terminated by a loose spike of flowers, which 

 are white, and the petals are turned backward 

 to their peduncle. And according to Murray, 

 the root-leaves are numerous, only one-third of 

 the height of the scape, subulate, channelled at 

 the base, then keeled and flat, striated, an inch 

 and half broad, and spreading : the scape four 

 feet high, almost naked, round, smooth and 

 oblique : the bractes five, gibbous at the base, 

 pressed close, subulate, the lower ones larger 

 like the leaves, the upper ones scaly and shri- 

 velling : the corymb terminating, compressed, 

 having six round, long, alternate branches, 

 knotted where the flowers spring forth : the 

 flowers alternate, solitary, or two sometimes 

 three together, on small gray pedicels, thicker 

 at the top, each supported by a little subulate 

 bracte : the corolla inferior : the petals laneeo- 

 lafe-ovate, reflex, obtuse, concave at the tip, 

 white, except towards the end on the outside, 

 where they are brownish green : the filaments 

 a little shorter than the corolla: anthers erect, 

 oblong, revolute as they wither : the root similar 

 to that of the Hcemanthus punkeus. It is a 

 native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



In the second species the root is round, and the 

 stalks rise about the same height as the former; 

 sending out many lateral branches in like man- 

 ner, which are terminated by loose spikes of 

 flowers : the leaves are hard and grassy, none 

 on the scape, which is loosely panieled, with 

 one-flowered peduncles : the corollas white : the 

 petals flat, arid not turning back as in the for- 

 mer sort : the three outer petals narrower than 

 the others, lanceolate and sessile : the three 

 inner oval and petioled. In each angle of the 

 germ a small melliferous pore. It is a native of 

 Sweden, &c. The flowers watch from seven in 

 the morning to three or four in the after- 

 noon. 



The third has the roots composed of many 

 tubers, each about the size of a little finger at 



top, and diminishing gradually to the size of a 

 straw : the leaves from seven or eight, to nine or 

 ten inches in length, and an inch and half broad 

 in the middle, lessening gradually to both ends; 

 they are smooth and glaucous : the flower-stem 

 about two feet high, dividing into several 

 branches, having a few narrow leaves, generally 

 one at every division of the branch : the flowers 

 form a loose spike, and are white. This plant 

 has been lately recovered from seeds w hich were 

 sent from the Cape to England and Holland. It 

 usually blows in August and September. 



In the fourth species the roots are numerous, 

 round, and collected into a tuber crowned with 

 bristles: the leaves from the root many, firm, a 

 foot long, carinatcd and grassy : the scape erect, 

 eighteen inches high, firm : the spike loose, ten- 

 flowered, and the peduncles simple : the flower 

 two inches wide ; petals in two ranks : the inner 

 widest, petiolate and pure white : the outer have 

 a green line running along beneath. It is a na- 

 tive of Italy, &c. 



The fifth species has the root fascicled, with 

 fleshy fibres. It has the corolla of the white 

 Lily : the leaves grassy, soft, broader than two 

 lines, the radical ones very long : the scape a 

 foot or eighteen inches high : the spike thin-set 

 with spreading flowers, on simple peduncles : 

 the stipules coloured, ovate-lanceolate : the co- 

 rolla above an inch in diameter, gradually widen- 

 ing; petals tender and white ; ovate, thin, lan- 

 ceolate, with a reflex point, which is thicker 

 and has a green dot : they are marked with 

 lines, and sweet-scented : the stamens almost as 

 long as the petals, with weak filaments. In 

 France it is called St. Bruno's Lily. 



There are two varieties of this, one with a 

 flower-stalk more than a foot and half high, the 

 other with the stems much the same : the flow- 

 ers are much larger in the former, and there is a 

 greater number upon each stalk than in the latter. 

 It is a native of Switzerland and Savoy. 



The sixth species differs from the seventh by 

 rising into a stem and branches, by having the. 

 leaves greener, longer, and narrower, with a 

 firmer pulp, and a viscid juice flowing copiously 

 from them when cut, of a greenish yellow co- 

 lour: the root is fibrous, and not only the stem, 

 but even the branches put out fibres, which hang 

 down, and when they reach the ground strike- 

 root. It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and was formerly known by the name of Onion- 

 leaved Aloe. 



The seventh has broad, flat, pulpy leaves, 

 resembling those of some sorts of Aloe, and 

 was formerly on that account called Aloe with 

 flowers of Spiderwort. The leaves spread open, 

 are broader and more translucid, soft and pulpv, 



