2136 



NEPHTHYTIS 



NERINE 



bi 



NEPHTHYTIS vnaino hornnveil from Egyptian 

 niytholojy; Ni-|>litliys, niotluT of Aniihis. wife of 

 Tyiilion^. .1 nircr. Tropioal African croopers, two of 

 wliu-h lire cultivated iy hothouses for their varieKated 

 foliajje. 



Leaves more or less hsJberd-shajwd or arrow-shaped, 

 with scjireely any slieath on the jietiolo: infl. terminal; 

 sjiathe eoneave-i'xpandod ; ovary l-cclled; ovule soli- 

 t;ir>-. ix^ndulous. — About half a dozen species. 



picturdta, N. E. Br. The white niarkinjjs form a pat- 

 tern R'Si'mblinK the tips of fern fronds laid between the 

 nerves, with their points all directed toward the l)a.se 

 of the midrib: plant stemless, spreading by runners: 

 letioles 10-12 in. Ions;: blade t)-12 in. long, .'j-9 in. 

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

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

 Nurseries. 1895. 



triphylla, Hort. ".\ pretty stove creeper witli dark 

 preen thrice-<livided Ivs. marked with greenish white 

 in the exact shape of the If." 



Afzelii, Schott (.V. lib^rica, 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 ba.sal lobes up to 6 in. long: spathe green, 

 2-24 in. long. W. Trop. Afr. George V. NA.SH.t 



NEPTUNIA {Xeplune, god of the sea: some of the 

 species are aquatic). Leguminosse. Perennial herbs, or 

 subshrubs, oft«n floating, one of which is an aquarium 

 plant. 



I'narmed, prostrate or diffuse, the branches usually 

 flattened or triquetrous: lvs. bipinnate, sometimes sen- 

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



2474. Nerine cur?ifoUa 

 var. Fothergillii. 



(Xh) 



or polygamous, in sjjikes or heads on axillary ))edun- 

 cles; calyx .Vlobed; petals ,5, distinct or .somewhat 

 cohering ; stamens U) or .'), exscrted : i)od oblong, obli(iue, 

 2-valved, somewhat septate between the ovate com- 

 pressed seeds. — .Species perhaps a dozen, widely spread 

 in the troi)ics; a few of them are in the extreme south- 

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



plena, Bcnth. {Miinosa plctia, Linn. Deanidnthus 

 plenum, WiUd.). Xatant, with prostrate sts., foliage 

 .sensitive and much like I hat of the common sensitive 

 plant, Miiiiuaa piidicd: the lis. arc so odd that one at 

 first sight, would not imagine that t-liey belong to the 

 legume family. They are small and collected in an 

 ovoid head, 1 • 2 >^ 1 in- anti borne singly on stalks 6 in. 

 long. These heads or si)ikes are tlroojiing and have 

 numerous stamens. The singular feature of these fls. 

 is a m;iss of yellow petalage comijo.sed of (> or more 

 tiers of reflcxed narrowly lanceolate bodies, which are 

 really transformetl and sterile stamens. The plant 

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

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

 alternate anil far ajiart; Ifts. many, crowded, linear, 

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

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

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

 4695. B. 11.32:3. l. H. B. 



NERINE (a nereid of Greek mythology). Amarylli- 

 daccr. Handsome autumn-flowering bulbs from South 

 Africa. 



Bulb tunicated, mostly without a neck: lvs. 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; spathe- 

 valves beneath the umbel 2, lanceolate; perianth funnel- 

 form, very deeply cut or divided, erect or somewhat 

 decurved, the ti 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 A'^. sarniensis, long known as the 

 — (luernsey lily from the island where these 

 bulbs are grown to perfection. The w-in- 

 ter is their growing season itistead 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 11^ feet. A trade name is 

 N erine japonica, which is really a Lycoris; it has black 

 seeds, wliile 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 popul.ar 

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

 showier clust('r of flowers. The segments vary from 

 Ti to 1/2 i'lch in width. The showiest kinds are hy- 



