AMARILLIS. 



577 



The Orange Lily (I. hulhiferumj. This showy 

 flower lias a scaly bulb, a leafy stem, two and a 

 lialf feet high, tcmiinating in large orange 

 coloured flowers. Sometimes the stem produces 

 small green bulbs in the axillae of the leaves. 

 Of this species there are eight or ten varieties, 

 the nmhcllatum being the most showy. It is 

 readily propagated by offsets. 



The Turk's Cap (I. martagon), has a large 

 scaly bulb, a stalk furnished with narrow leaves, 

 about three feet high, with terminating pedun- 

 cles of fine carmine flowers, which blow in July. 

 There are several varieties, the most remarkable 

 being, the scarlet Turk's cap, and the yellow 

 l)erianthed Turk's cap. 



The Japan Lily (l. Japonicum), is a noble 

 flower, with a stem five feet high, and flowers 

 seven inches broad, of a pure white, with a 

 streak of blue. 



The Tiger Lily (l. tigrinum), with the upper 

 leaves cordate, oval, and petals spotted. 



All these are most commonly propagated by 

 offset bulbs; but new varieties may also be 

 raised from seed. The seedling bulbs flowering 

 in the fifth or sixth years. 



The common sorts will thrive in almost any 

 situation, even under the shad'e of trees. The 

 more tender sorts require protection in the green- 

 house, or in a garden frame. 



The tiger lily is most vigorous when it is 

 planted in heath mould. None of this species, 

 nor indeed any bulbous plant, should be moved 

 after the leaves are pushed out, otherwise they 

 will be so weakened, as to produce a feeble 

 flower. 



Amahillis. Natural family amarylliica: ; 

 hexandria,monogynia, of Linnieus. This splendid 

 family of plants derive their name from the 

 Greek word, signifying resplendent. It is also 

 the name of a nymph, celebrated by the ancient 

 poets. Most of these species are natives of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, China, or South ximerica, 

 and are therefore green-house plants in this 

 country. 



The green-house species of this family thrive 

 best in a light, loamy soil, and should have but 

 little water given them after they have done 

 flowering, so that the bulbs may harden, to pro- 

 duce more flowers the following season. New 

 varieties are procured by sowing the seeds; but 

 the most usual mode of propagation in this 

 country is by offsets. A shell taken from the 

 bulb with a leaf on it, and planted in a pot of 

 mould, will produce a bulb, as, indeed, will 

 almost any bulbous-rooted plant. 



The stove amaryllises grow best in light loam 

 and rich soil; and the larger kinds, if placed in 

 capacious pots, throw up magnificent flowers. 

 The great art in cultivating these and all other 

 bulbs, according to Knight, is to procure vigorous 

 leaves; on tliese depend the quantity of nutritive 



matter prepared and deposited in the bulb, which 

 is an essential requisite for its flowering next 

 season : for bulbous roots increase in size, and 

 proceed in acquiring powers to produce blossoms 

 only during the periods in which they have 

 leaves, and in which such leaves are exposed to 

 light; and these organs always operate most 

 efficiently when they are young, and have just 

 attained their full growth. Thus the bulb of 

 the Guernsey lily, as it is usually cultivated in 

 this country, rarely produces leaves till Septem- 

 ber, or the beginning of October, at which period 

 the quantity of light afforded by our climate, is 

 probably quite insufficient for a plant said to be a 

 native of Japan; and before the return of spring 

 its leaves are necessarily grown old, and nearly 

 inefficient, even though protected well from the 

 winter frosts. It is not extraordinary, then, that 

 a bulb of this species which has once expended 

 its energies in producing flowers, should but 

 very slowly recover the power of again blossom- 

 ing. 



On these premises Mr Knight accordingly 

 inferred, that nothing more was necessary to 

 make this lily blossom as freely as it does in 

 Guernsey, than such a slight degree of artificial 

 heat applied early in the summer, as would prove 

 sufficient to make the bulbs vegetate a few weeks 

 earlier than usual in the autumn. Early in the 

 summer of 1816, a bulb which had blossomed 

 in the preceding autumn, was subjected to such 

 a degree of artificial heat as occasioned it to 

 vegetate six weeks earlier than it would other- 

 wise have done. It did not of course produce 

 any flowers; but in the following season it blos- 

 somed early, and strongly, and afforded two 

 offsets. These were put in the spring of 1818, 

 into pots containing about one-eighth of a square 

 foot of light and rich mould, and were fed with 

 manured water; and their period of vegetation 

 was again accelerated by artificial heat. Their 

 leaves consequently grew yellow from maturity, 

 early in the next spring, when the pots were 

 placed in rather a shady situation, and near a 

 south wall, to afford them an opportunity of 

 observing to what extent in such a situation the 

 early production of the leaves in the preceding 

 season had changed the habit of the plant. I 

 entertained no doubt but that both the bulbs 

 would afford blossoms; but I was much gratified 

 by the appearance of the blossoms in tlie first 

 week in July. From the success of the preced- 

 ing experiment, adds Mr Knight, I conclude, 

 that if the offsets, and probably the bulbs of this 

 plant which have produced flowers, be placed 

 in a moderate hot bed in the end of May, to 

 occasion the early production of their leaves, 

 blossoms would be constantly afforded in the 

 following season; but it will be expedient to 

 habituate the leaves thus produced gradually to 

 the open air, as soon as they are nearly fully 

 4 D 



