1 66 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 479. 



Hyacinths, Tulips, Crocuses, Snowdrops, Chionodoxas, 

 Anemones (blanda, apennina, hortensis, nemorosa), Cycla- 

 mens, Winter Aconite, Christmas Roses and other Helle- 

 bores, Primroses, Cowslips and Polyanthuses. If we could 

 obtain Irises of the reticulata section, the big Saxifragas, 

 Adonis, Leucojum and Erythroniums in sufficient quanti- 

 ties they would serve equally well. Emphasis must be 

 placed on the recommendation to employ all these plants 

 with taste. Thus, Cowslips dotted over a grassy slope or 

 lawn would be in good taste, but Polyanthuses in such a 

 position would not be. Chionodoxas in the grass do not look 

 at home, and, in fact, will not thrive there, but scattered 

 among the stones and roots of the rock-garden or on large 

 borders they have a charming effect. The idea is, however, 

 the main thing. Once perceive that all such plants as those 

 named are better suited for what we term wild-gardening 

 than for the formal flower-bed, and ways and means will 

 readily suggest themselves. 



Mr. Burbidge stated in his paper on bulb culture that 

 Daffodils and Tulips could be grown as easily as Potatoes, 

 given the requisite technical knowledge and suitable soil 

 and climate ; the same applies to the cultivation and in- 

 crease of all the plants here recommended for spring gar- 

 dening. They must be abundant and cheap before they 

 can come to be used in large quantities, but given the 

 demand and the supply will certainly come. It is not many 

 years since Emperor and Empress Daffodils were worth 

 pounds a dozen; now as many pounds will buy a thou- 

 sand. Chionodoxa and Galanthus Elwesii used to be doled 

 out in small packets to be grown with care in the flower-pot ; 

 now one can buy them at so much per bushel. Still, even 

 now we cannot get enough of them. When people see the 

 effect such plants produce at Kew and in other gardens 

 when used in quantity they have the desire to reproduce 

 this effect in their own gardens. I believe there is a great 

 future for all easily grown plants which flower freely and 

 are effective in the open air in spring. Horticultural taste, 

 in England at any rate, leans in that direction. 



London. W. WdlSOll. 



Cultural Department. 

 The Hippeastrums. — I. 



SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 



[ BEGAN to cultivate Hippeastrums in 1881, and since that 

 -^ time I have added new material from year to year. Al- 

 though the hybrids are much more striking than the species, 

 I have collected as many of the latter as I could get from deal- 

 ers and from collectors in tropical America. In many cases I 

 did not succeed in obtaining the true species from their native 

 home. I obtained many species from southern Brazil, British 

 Guiana, Venezuela, Central America and the Lesser Antilles. 

 From the mountains of the Andes, particularly in Peru and 

 Ecuador, where some of the most beautiful species grow, I 

 have as yet been unable to procure material. 



All these plants are known popularly as Amaryllis, while in 

 science they are called Hippeastrum. The true scientific term 

 Amaryllis belongs to the Belladonna Lilies of south Africa, 

 which have very similar flowers, but different bulbs, leaves 

 and seeds, the latter being few, large and fleshy, while the 

 seeds of the Hippeastrums are many, flat and light, andean be 

 carried away easily by the wind. All the Hippeastrums are 

 strictly American, being found in the tropics from southern 

 Mexico southward to Paraguay and Buenos Ayres. Hippe- 

 astrum equestre has been naturalized in southern India and 

 also on several islands of the Indian Ocean, and the true Ama- 

 ryllis Belladonna (Belladonna Lily) of south Africa has been 

 detected in the island of Jamaica and also on the Andes of 

 Colombia, on the banks of one of the branches of the Rio 

 Cauca, where it was found by Monsieur Andr£, who supposed 

 he had discovered a new species of Hippeastrum. In The 

 Gardeners' Chronicle of 1880 it was described and named 

 after its discoverer, Hippeastrum Andreanum. Only recently 

 it has been ascertained that this is the true Belladonna Lily 

 escaped from cultivation. 



It is a singular fact that all the Amaryllis a'fe called Lilies by 

 persons with no knowledge of botanical science. Thus, John- 

 son's Amaryllis is known tn the south as the Red Lily ; Hippe- 



astrum equestre as the Barbadoes Lily, etc. But the name of 

 the nymph Amaryllis has been connected with these plants 

 since the days of Linnaeus, and is almost as much a part of 

 the modern languages as Lily, Tulip, Hyacinth or Magnolia. 

 The comparatively unpoetical term Hippeastrum, Knight's 

 Star, will probably never find favor with the general public. 



The Amaryllis which is most commonly met with in the gar- 

 dens of the southern states is the easily managed hybrid Hip- 

 peastrum Johnsonii, raised by Mr. Johnson, a watchmaker at 

 Lancashire, England, in 1810, from H. Reginas and H. vittatum. 

 This was the first species I tried, and I grew it in the open air 

 in Texas, where it soon formed large clumps. Its brilliancy, 

 fine form, delicate fragrance and luxuriant growth led me to 

 other species and hybrids, among which are the following: 



Hippeastrum vittatum, from the Andes of Peru. This was 

 introduced into Europe in 1769, and it has become one of the 

 most common as it is among the easiest to grow. Though 

 not of such fine form and brilliancy as most of the hybrids 

 raised from it, it is a beautiful flower. The ground color is 

 white, in the tube greenish, striped, and sometimes veined 

 with crimson. The scape usually bears four delicately fragrant 

 flowers. The common strain of Amaryllis found in most 

 greenhouses originated from this species by crossing it with 

 other species, or in crossing its different hybrids among each 

 other. Far superior to the species is the variety H. vittatum 

 Harrisonianum, sent to Europe from Brazil by William Har- 

 rison, the introducer of H. aulicum and many Orchids from 

 the Organ Mountains. The flowers are very large, pure white, 

 with two red stripes. They are of fine form and substance and 

 very fragrant. It was figured in The Botanical Register on 

 plate 988. Some botanists regard this as a probable hybrid 

 between H. vittatum and H. solandrirlorum. My bulb, which 

 was received from B. S. Williams & Son, London, does not 

 grow very luxuriantly, although it flowers regularly in spring. 



Hippeastrum equestre, the Barbadoes Amaryllis, Barbadoes 

 Lily, or Orange Lily. This is the type on which the genus 

 Hippeastrum has been based by Herbert. This species is 

 found throughout tropical America from Mexico and the West 

 Indies south to Brazil and Chili. I saw it first in April, 1886, in 

 south Florida, where several hundred flowers were standing 

 close together and produced a wonderfully brilliant effect 

 against a background of tall Pampas Grass. The color of the 

 large open flower is a bright orange-red, with a yellowish white 

 star in the tube. Two to four flowers are usually borne on a 

 scape fifteen to twenty inches high. The strap-shaped leaves, 

 of which six to eight are produced by each bulb, are about 

 eighteen inches long, of a glaucous-green color. As the 

 flowers appear when the plant is in full foliage, the effect is 

 indescribably striking. I have seen clumps consisting of fifty 

 bulbs, almost all of which were flowering. In the greenhouse 

 I have had bulbs of this species from Florida, Barbadoes, St. 

 Vincent, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Venezuela, British Guiana, Hon- 

 duras, southern Brazil, etc. They vary a good deal in size as 

 well as in the brilliancy of their flowers. Those from St. Vin- 

 cent, belonging to the variety H. equestre major, are the most 

 easily grown, the most vigorous and brilliant. H. equestre 

 Roezli, gathered by the celebrated collector in the Andes of 

 Bolivia, has a lighter color and smaller Howers. H. equestre 

 pyrrochroum appears to be entirely different, having much 

 stronger roots, more robust leaves and scarlet flowers with a 

 greenish centre. This is by far the easiest grown of all the H. 

 equestre tribe. There is also a semi-double variety which I 

 received from St. Vincent. H. equestre flowers freely for the 

 first year and the leaves grow normally, but when the winter 

 sets in, if it is kept moist, the roots rot and the bulb soon fol- 

 lows, and if kept dry the bulb begins to shrivel and decays in 

 the inside. The few bulbs that may remain sound are only 

 with great pains restored to a healthy condition. 



Hippeastrum Reginae, a native of southern Mexico, Central 

 America, the West Indies and south to Peru and Brazil. This 

 is one of the most beautiful of Amaryllises. Introduced into 

 cultivation in 1728, it was called Lilium Regium by Dr. James 

 Douglas in honor of Carolina, wife of George II. It is a strong 

 plant, with large, massive, dark green glaucous leaves. In 

 their earlier stages the flowers show a deep purplish brown 

 hue. The strong scapes, of which two are usually produced 

 by each bulb at the same time, are four-flowered and from 

 twenty-six to thirty inches high. The flowers are large and of 

 a very brilliant orange-scarlet color. Each segment has a 

 broad white stripe in the centre extending two-thirds of its 

 length from the base. The tube is greenish. It is easily 

 grown, and flowers better in the window than in the green- 

 house, and really most Amaryllis do better with amateurs than 

 with florists. This species has been fruitful in the production 

 of hybrids ; the first known cross, H. Johnsonii, having been 



