ELISENA 



THE BULB BOOK 



ERANTHEMtJM 



E. azurea. — A Brazilian aquatic, 

 with thickish green, smooth and 

 flexuose stems about an inch thick. 

 The leaves are from 3 to 8 ins. across, 

 roundish, heart-shaped, or rhomboidal, 



Fig. 122.—EichhoTnia azurea. (^.) 



the blade being more or less twisted. 

 The clear, pale blue, funnel-shaped 

 blossoms appear during the summer 

 months, and are scattered or in pairs 

 along a stout hairy rachis or main 

 stem. (Bot. Mag. t. 6487.) 



E. speclosa (Pontederia crassipes) is 

 similar, but has no thickish root- 

 stocks, and produces fine spikes of 

 blue flowers (Bot. Mag. t. 2932). 



ELISENA (after Princess Mise, 

 sister of Napoleon the Great). Nat. 

 Ord. Amaryllidese. — A genus closely 

 related to Hymenocallis, containing 

 three species of Peruvian plants with 

 tunicated bulbs, strap-shaped leaves, 



204 



and broadly funnel-shaped flowers 

 having long linear segments. 



The species mentioned below are 

 all natives of the Andes of Peru and 

 Ecuador, and require to be grown in 

 a warm greenhouse. They flourish in 

 a compost of loam and sand in about 

 equal proportions, with a little well- 

 decayed cow-manure or leaf -soil added. 

 The simplest method of increase is by 

 offsets from the old bulbs. Seeds, 

 however, if obtainable, may be sown 

 in sandy loam and peat, or a little 

 leaf-soil. 



B. longipetala. — This is the best- 

 known species, having being intro- 

 duced about 1837. It grows at an 

 altitude of 6000 to 8000 ft. on the 

 Andes of Peru and Ecuador, and has 

 long-necked bulbs ]| to 2 ins. in 

 diameter, from which arise about six 

 strap-shaped, pale green leaves about 

 1^ ft. long and ] J ins. broad. About 

 May and June, from five to ten white 

 flowers, each with a funnel-shaped 

 staminal cup and linear segments 

 about 4 ins. long, are borne in a 

 nearly sessile umbel on top of a two- 

 edged scape 2 to 3 ft. high. (Bot. 

 Mag. t. 3873; Bef. Bot. t. 264.) 

 This species crossed with Hymeno- 

 callis (Ismene) calathina has produced 

 a bigeneric hybrid (Gard. Chron. 1905, 

 xxxvii. 344 ; xxxviii. 322). 



B. rlngens. — This species has round 

 bulbs about 1^ ins. through, narrow 

 strap-shaped leaves about \^ ft. long, 

 and about half a dozen flowers on a 

 two-edged scape. The flowers are 

 much smaller than in E. longipetala. 

 (Fl. Peruv. iii. 53, t. 283.) 



E. sublimis. — This is closely related 

 to E. ringens, but has a longer 

 staminal cup and longer segments. 



ERANTHEMUM (eran, eras, to love ; 

 anthemon, a flower ; referring to the 

 beautiful flowers). Nat Ord. Ac^n- 

 thacea. — There are many beautiful 



