L iliacecz Funckia. 5 1 3 



8. FtJNCKIA. 



Herbaceous plants with tuberous-fascicled roots, broadly ovate 

 or cordate radical stalked plaited acuminate leaves having 

 parallel veins or nerves, and sometimes variegated with white 

 stripes. Flowers solitary in the axils of bracts, forming a 

 raceme terminating the usually leafless stem. Several of the 

 species have been published under the preceding genus, from 

 which they differ in their broad foliage and racemose inflores- 

 cence. This genus was named in honour of H. Funck, a Ger- 

 man botanist. The species are all from Japan. They are not 

 so well defined as they might be, on account of the confusion 

 among garden varieties, and the introduction of the same 

 species under different names. Mr. Baker, in the ' Gardener's 

 Chronicle,' 1868, reduces the cultivated forms to five species, 

 distinguished as follows : 



1. F. lanci/olia. Petiole 6 to 9 inches long, edges not in- 

 curved ; lamina oblong-lanceolate, 3 to 4 inches long by 1^ to 

 2 inches broad, narrowed gradually towards both ends, 9- to 11- 

 nerved. Scape or flower-stem 8 to 9 inches high, scarcely over- 

 topping the leaves ; raceme 3 to 5 inches long, 6- to 10-flowered, 

 with lanceolate-spathulate bracts equalling the perianth in 

 length. Perianth 1 to 1^ inch long, white or with a lilac 

 tinge, dilated suddenly from a tube not more than a line in 

 thickness. F. aibo-marginata barely differs in its rather larger 

 flowers and leaves slightly variegated towards the edge with 

 white. F. undulata appears to be a cultivated form of this 

 with frilled or crisped leaves copiously variegated with streaks 

 or patches of white, and shorter dilated petioles. 



2. F. ovata. Petiole 9 inches to a foot long, edges not in- 

 curved ; lamina 6 or 7 inches long by 4 or 5 broad, ovate, 

 rounded or slightly cordate at the base, acute at the apex, 15- to 

 17-nerved. Scape including the raceme considerably over- 

 topping the leaves, with a large leaf below the raceme, which is 

 5 to 6 inches long and 10- to 15-flowered. Perianth typically 

 a decided bluish-lilac, occasionally white, 2 to '2\ inches long, 

 dilated suddenly from a tube an eighth of an inch in thickness. 

 This is the commonest and best known species. 



3. F. Sieboldiana. Petiole a foot long, edges not incurved ; 

 lamina 10 or 12 inches long by 6 or 7 broad, cordate-ovate, 

 cuspidate, 25- to 27-nerved. Scape not overtopping the leaves ; 



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