KIDNEY BEAN 



KIDNEY BEAN. CoTiunon name in England for tlie 

 common beans in distinction from the Lima beau, tlie 

 former being I^hastoltt.s vulgaris, the latter _P. lunaftis. 



KIDNEY VETCH. See A nth u III. s-. 



KINGNUT. Cayi/a SKlcala. 



KIN-KAN. See Kionquat. 



KINNIKINNICK. Dry bark of Corn, is Amomuw, 

 smoked by western Indians. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. See Vegetable Onrdeninu, 

 Gardens, and HorlicHll are. 



KLEINIA. Of tlie ;i genera of Composit;o of this 

 name, 2 are referred la Porophyllum and Jaumea, but 

 the trade names will be accounted for under Se}iecio. 



KNAPWEED. See Centaurca. 



KNIGHT'S STAR. Hippeastrnm eqncstrc. 



KNIPHdEIA (Johann Hieronymus Kniphof, 1704- 

 176o, professor at Erfurt). Lilldr^'<r. This genus iii- 

 cludes the Red-hot Poker Plant (Fig. 1211), which is 

 unique in its appearance and one of the most striking 

 plants in common cultivation. No one who has ever 

 seen its pyramidal spike of blazing red lis. borne in au- 

 tumn is likely to forget wlien and where he"discovered" 

 this plant. It is herbaceous and nearly hardy N., has 

 sword-shaped Ivs.li-.'t ft. long, and several scapes 4 or 

 5 ft. high surmounted by a spike ■1-8 in. long composed 

 of perhaps 100 tubular, drooping Us., each 1 in. or more 

 long, and tiery, untamed red. A sky-rocket is not more 

 startling. By far the commonest species is A", aloidcs. 

 which has perhaps a dozen varieties with Latin names 

 and twice as many with personal names. All the other 

 species have much the same general effect, and are of 

 interest chiefly to collectors and fanciers. Poker Plants 

 are hardy south of Philadelphia when well covered in 

 winter, but in the North it is generally safer to dig up 

 the plants in November, place them in boxes with dry 

 earth, and store them in a cellar in winter. In spring 

 place them in a warm, sheltered, well-drained spot,. 

 preferably with a background of shrubbery to set off the 

 tiowers. 



The genus is confined to Africa and Madagascar, and 

 all but two of the species numbered below are from 

 south Africa. The plants seem to be still better known 

 to the trade as species of Tritoma, but the following ac- 

 count omits most of such synonyms. Bentham and 

 Hooker placed Kniphofia between Funkia and Notoscep- 

 trum. The latter t^enus is not in cultivation, and Fun- 

 kia has blue or white tls., which colors are not found in 

 Kniphofia. Poker Plants have tls. of red, orange or yel- 

 low. Blandfordia has similar colors and agrees in hav- 

 ing pendulous tubular tls. with short lobes, and also 

 long, narrow Ivs., but the stamens are fixed at the mid- 

 dle of the tube, and the capsule has septicidal dehis- 

 cence, while in Kniphotia the stamens are fixed under 

 the pistil and the capsule has loculicidal dehiscence. 



Kniphofias are often classed by dealers as bulbous 

 plants, though they have only a short rhizome and nu- 

 merous, clustered, thickish root-fibers. Baker speaks of 

 the "raceme" of a Kniphofia, but the pedicels are so short 

 that the inflorescence is here spoken of as a "spike," par- 

 ticularly as a spike signifies to the popular mind a 

 denser inflorescence than a raceme. Most of the spe- 

 cies have been very recently monographed by Baker in 

 Flora Capensis, vol. 6 and Flora of Trop. Afr. vol. 7. 

 When the height of the plants is given below, it refers 

 to the height of the scape. 



Index of names exclusive of those in the supplemen- 

 tary lists (varieties and synonyms in italic) : 



aloides, 1. corollina, 5. Nelsoni, 4. 



Burehelli, 3. glaucescens, 1. nobllis, 1. 



camosa, 1. grandiflora, 1. pauciflora, 8. 



oaulescens, 6. grandis, 1. Rooperi, 2. 



comosa, 10. Leiehtlinii. 9. Saundersii, 1. 



€oro7tianum, 5. Slacowanii. 5. Tuckii, 7. 



KNIPHOFIA 859 



A. Length of perianth 1 in. or more. 

 B. iStemless or nearly so. 



r. Form of Ivs. sword - sliaped- 

 acuininate. 

 D. Color 0/ Ivs. dull gn i n. 



E. Width of Ivs. i'4-1 in 1. aloides 



EE. Width of Ivs. l',3 In 2. Rooperi 



DD. Color of Ivs. bright green 'A. Burehelli 



cm;. For)n of Ivs. linear. 



D. Width of It's, one-sislecnth to 



one-twelfth of an ineh 4. Nelsoni 



DD. Width of Ivs. oni-iiijlttlt to 



one-sixth of an inch 5. Macowanli 



BB. Stem fi-l.i in. long (J. eaulescens 



AA. Length of perlanlh }i-^i in. 



B. Form of perlonlh sabcfflindrical. . 7. Tuckii 

 BB. Form "f /nrlan/h fannel-shaj)ed . 

 c. Wiflth of les. one-eighth to one- 



.^ixthofa)i Ineh S. pauciflora 



cc. Width of Irs. .^2 In. 



D. Stame)ts 1 ' ._. limes as long as 



^ the jK'rianth 0. Leiehtlinii 



DL". Stannns tivlee as long as the 



perianth 10. COmosa 



1. aloides, Moench ( A'. Uviiria, Hook. TrUoma 

 f'retria, Ker.). Red-hot Poker Plant. Poker Plant. 

 ToKCH Lily. Flame Flower. Fig. 1211. Lvs. slightly 



1211. Kniphofia aloides. 

 Separate flower natural size. 



glaucous, 2-3 ft. long, scabrous on the margin, acutely 

 keeled, with 30—40 close vertical veins : raceme dense, 

 often 6 in. long, 2,^2-3 in. thick: npper fls. bright red. 

 lower ones yellow; perianth cylindrical; stamens some- 

 times barely exserted. F.S. 13:13113. B.M. 4816:758.— 

 The following varieties with Latin names are in the 

 trade and usually advertised as apparent species nnder 

 Kniphofia or Tritoma. They may be all more or less 

 distinct horticulturally. Aneverbiooming kind is adver- 

 tised in moo and said to flower from June to Dec. Var. 

 cambsa is figured in On. 19;2SG with the fls. opening from 

 the top instead of the bottom, and with red filaments 

 and yellow anthers. Leichtlin introduced it about 1881 

 and said it grew l^'2-2 ft. high, the apricot-red of the 

 ris. toned down by a glaucous bloom. Var. Jloribiinda is 

 early-flowering, says Van Tubergen. Var. glailca is less 

 known than the nest. Var. glaucescens is figured in Gn. 

 3fj;727 with a spike 9 in. long, of "vermilion -scarlet fls. 

 changing to a more orange color. One of the freest 

 bloomers. Int. 1859." Foliai^e somewhat glaucous. 

 Var. grandiflora, one of the earliest improvements on the 

 type. John Saul said it grows 2-3 ft. high. Var. grandis. 

 "The largest-flowered of all; fls. red and yellow, 5 ft." 

 Woolson. Referred by Kew authorities to var. maxim;i. 

 Var. ndbilie is said by Carriere, R.H. 1885:252, to have 



