KIDNEY BEAN 



KIDNEY BEAN. Common name in England for the 

 common beans in distinction from the Lima bean, the 

 former being Pliaseohis vulgaris, the latter P. liinalus. 



KIDNEY VETCH. Hee AntJiuUis. 



KINGNDT, Carya sulcata. 



KIN-KAN. See Kumqual. 



KLEINIA. Of the 3 genera of CompositiB of this 

 name, 2 are referred to Porophyllum and Jaumea, but 

 the trade names will be accounted for under Seueeio. 



KNAPWEED. See Centaurea. 



KNIGHT'S STAK. JTippeastrum equestre. 



KNIPHOFIA (Johann Hieronymus Kniphof, 1704- 

 17GJ, professor at Erfurt). LiUAcece. This genus in- 

 cludes the Red-hot Poker Plant (Fig. 12U), which is 

 unique in its appearance and one of the most striking 

 plants in common cultivation. No one who has ever 

 seen its pyramidal spike of blazing red fls. borne in au- 

 tumn is likely to forget when and where he "discovered" 

 this plant. It is herbaceous and nearly hardy N., has 

 sword-shaped Ivs. 2-3 ft. long, and several scapes 4 or 

 5 ft. high surmounted by a spike 4-8 in. long composed 

 of perhaps 100 tubular, drooping fls., each 1 in. or more 

 long, and fiery, untamed red. A sky-rocket is not more 

 startling. By far the commonest species is A', aloides, 

 which has perhaps a dozen varieties with Latin names 

 and twice as many with personal names. All the other 

 .species have much the same general effect, and are of 

 interest chiefly to collectors and fanciers. Poker Plants 

 are hardy south of Philadelphia when well covered in 

 winter, but in the North it is generally safer to dig up 

 the plants in November, place them in boxes with dry 

 earth, and store them in a cellar in winter. In spring 

 place them in a warm, sheltered, well-drained spot, 

 preferably with a background of shrubbery to set off the 

 flowers. 



The genus is confined to Africa and Madagascar, and 

 all but two of the species numbered below are from 

 south Africa. The plants seem to be still better known 

 to the trade as species of Tritoma, but the following ac- 

 count omits most of such synonyms. Bentham and 

 Hooker placed Kniphofla between Punkia and Notoscep- 

 trum. The latter genus is not in cultivation, and Fun- 

 kia has blue or white fls., which colors are not found in 

 Kniphofla. Poker Plants have fls. of red, orange or yel- 

 low. Blandfordia has similar colors and agrees in hav- 

 ing pendulous tubular fls. with short lobes, and also 

 long, narrow Ivs., but the stamens are fixed at the mid- 

 dle of the tube, and the capsule has septicidal dehis- 

 cence, while in Kniphofia the stamens are fixed under 

 the pistil and the capsule has loculicidal dehiscence. 



Kniphoflas are often classed by dealers as bulbous 

 plants, though they have only a short rhizome and nu- 

 merous, clustered, thickish root-fibers. Baker speaks of 

 the " raceme" of a Kniphofia, but the pedicels are so short 

 that the inflorescence is herespoken of as a "spike, "par- 

 ticularly as a spike signifies to the popular mind a 

 denser inflorescence than a raceme. Most of the spe- 

 cies have been very recently monographed by Baker in 

 Flora Capensis, vol. 6 and Flora of Trop. Afr. vol. 7. 



Index of names exclusive of tho 

 tary lists (varieties and synonyms 

 aloides, 1. coroUina, 5. 



Burc-lielli, 3. glaucescetis, 1. 



carniisa, 1. grandiflora, 1. 



CJUilescens. 6. grandis, 1. 



belo 



Rooperi, 2. 

 Saundersii, 

 Tuckii, 7. 



efers 



1. aloid63, Moench (K. Uv&ria, Hook. Tritoma 

 nvd.ria,K&T.). Red-hot Pokeb Plant. Poker Plant. 

 Torch Lily. Flame Flower. Fig. 1211. Lvs. slightly 



glaucous, 2-3 ft. long, scabrous on the margin, acutely 

 keeled, with 30-40 close vertical veins: raceme dense, 

 often 6 in. long, 2^-3 in. thick: upper fls. bright red, 

 lower ones yellow; perianth cylindrical; stamens some- 

 times barely exserted. F.S. 13:1393. B.M. 4816:758.- 

 The following varieties with Latin names are in the 

 trade and usually advertised as apparent species under 

 Kniphofla or Tritoma. They may be all more or less 

 distinct horticulturally. Aneverblooming kind is adver- 

 tised in 1900 and said to flower from June to Dec. Var. 

 cambsa is flgured in Gn. 19 :286 with the fls. opening from 

 the top instead of the bottom, and with red filaments 

 and yellow anthers. Leichtlin introduced it about 1881 

 and said it grew \%-2 ft. high, the apricot-red of the 

 fls. toned down by a glaucous bloom. Var. floribilnda is 

 early-fiowering, says Van Tubergen. Var. glaica is less 

 known than the next. Var. glauc6scens is figured in Gn. 

 36:727 with a spike 9 in. long, of "vermilion-scarlet fls. 

 changing to a more orange color. One of the freest 

 bloomers. _ Int. 1859." Foliage somewhat glaucous. 

 Var. grandiJldra, one of the earliest improvements on the 

 type. John Saul said it grows 2-3 ft. high. Var. gr4ndis. 

 "The largest-flowered of all; fls. red and yellow, 5 ft." 

 Woolson. Referred by Kew authorities to var. maxima. 

 Var. ndbilis is said by Carrifere, R.H. 1885:252, to have 



