BEUNSVIGIA 



THE BULB BOOK 



BEUNSVIGIA 



and nestling amongst the narrow 

 leaves. There is a beautiful white- 

 flowered variety, alha, and another 

 called violacea, with poreelain-blue 

 flowers. 



Although a native of Buenos Ayres, 

 it is quite hardy in the British 

 Islands, and is an excellent plant 

 for massing boldly along the edges of 

 grass walks or borders, in the grass 

 itself, or for planting beneath trees 

 and shrubs. 



B. volubills {Stropholirion cali- 

 fornicvm). — A remarkable species, 

 with slender twining stems 6 to 12 

 ft. long, bearing umbels of beautiful 

 rose-coloured blossoms (Bot. Mag. t. 

 6123). 



BRUNSVIGIA (after the House of 

 Brunsvdck). Nat. Ord. Amaryllidese. 

 — ^A genus containing about ten 

 species of S. African plants, having 

 large tunicated bulbs, strap-shaped 

 leaves (produced after the flowers), 

 and umbels of funnel-shaped flowers 

 on stout scapes, and usually red or 

 rose-red in colour. Botanically the 

 Brunsvigias are closely related to 

 Amaryllis, Nerine, Lycoris, Crinum, 

 VaUota, and Cyrtanthiis. 



From a garden point of view these 

 bulbous plants are not well known, 

 at least not so well as some of them 

 deserve to be. They cannot be 

 called hardy, except perhaps in the 

 most favoured and hottest parts of 

 the Kingdom, and are therefore 

 generally treated as half-hardy plants 

 in a cool greenhouse. They flourish 

 in a mixture of rich sandy loam and 

 fibrous peat, and may be grown in 

 well-drained pots, or planted in the 

 greenhouse beds or borders. If 

 grown in the open air, the warmest 

 and sunniest spots should be chosen 

 for them, and the large bulbs should 

 be planted deeply so that the crowns 

 may be 6 ins. or more beneath the 



117 



surface. In this way they will be 

 secure from frost, and may be still 

 further protected from cold winter 

 rains by covering by heaps of litter, 

 bracken, etc., or by placing a hand- 

 light or bell-glass over them. It 

 should be noted that the leaves and 

 flowers do not appear together : the 

 latter appear during the summer 

 months, generally during July ; and 

 after withering, the leaves develop 

 and carry on the work of assimilation 

 till the winter. When they wither, 

 water is withheld until growth starts 

 again. The simplest method of in- 

 creasing the stock is by means of 

 offsets from the older bulbs. Seeds 

 may take from ten to sixteen years 

 before they produce a flowering bulb. 



The species known include — 



B. Cooperl.— Bulbs ovoid, 3 to 4 ins. 

 through ; leaves 3 to 4 ins. broad ; 

 flowers bright red, 2 to i^ ins. long, 

 twelve to sixteen in an umbel {Ref. 

 Bot. t. 330). 



B. sisantea {B. mtdtiflora ; Am- 

 aryllis orientalis.) — Bulbs very large ; 

 leaves 3 to 5 ins. broad, about a foot 

 long; flowers bright red, 2 to 2^ ins. 

 long, twenty to thirty in an umbel on 

 top of a red or green stalk 8 to 12 

 ins. long, and as thick as a man's finger 

 (Bot. Mag. t. 1619). 



B. srandlflora. — Bulbs large, ovoid ; 

 leaves strap-shaped ; flowers pale red, 

 2 ins. long, about thirty in an umbel, 

 on a compressed scape about 1|- ft. 

 high (Bot. Beg. 1. 1335). 



B. Josephinse (Amaryllis Josephines; 

 A. Griffiniana). — This is the best 

 known and perhaps finest species. It 

 has bulbs 5 to 6 ins. in diameter ; grey- 

 green strap-shaped leaves 2 to 3 ft. 

 long, and \\ to 2 ins. broad. The 

 bright red flowers, 2^ to 3 ins. long, 

 are borne in large umbels of twenty 

 to thirty, and sometimes as many as 

 fifty to sixty, on top of a scape about 

 1 in. thick and 18 ins. high. 



