BULBOUS PLANTS. 



53 



at the same time the bulblets may be separated for 

 propagation. This should be done about September, 

 after the foliage is matured. In no case should 

 planting be delayed beyond October. This bulb is 

 sometimes called Breevortia coccinea. 



B. congesta. — A vigorous-growing plant, very soon 

 establishing itself in any light soil, and not unfre- 

 quently becoming a weed. It has narrow leaves, and 

 produces, from May to July, numerous slender flower- 

 stems, terminated by a dense cluster of showy 

 purplish-mauve flowers, which remain in perfection 

 for some weeks. There is a white-flowered variety 

 {alba) which, however, is rare. This species is per- 

 fectly hardy and requires no care if planted in a light 

 soil in a sunny spot. B. cap it at a is a similar plant, 

 but not so desirable. 



B. grandiflora. — A beautiful species with flower- 

 stems rising about a foot high, carrying clusters of 

 flowers varying from purple to a pale rose-colour. 

 There is a variety called major, which is a larger 

 plant with finer flowers. 



B. multiflora. — This is even a showier plant than 

 B. congesta, the flowers being larger and the colour, 

 a deep purple-blue, much brighter. The flowers are 

 produced in broad globular clusters on stems shorter 

 than the leaves, which at once distinguishes it from 

 other species. It flowers about the beginning or 

 middle of May. It requires the same treatment as 

 B. congesta and B. grandiflora. 



B. volubilis. — This is a' most curious bulb, it being 

 one of the few climbing bulbous plants. The flower- 

 stems possess the climbing tendency, and very often 

 reach from ten to fifteen feet in height, twisting like 

 Scarlet Runner Beans around anything they come in 

 contact with. Therefore it should always be provided 

 with a support, such as a Pea stick or bush, to climb 

 upon. Unless it has some support the plant does 

 not thrive. The stems, which are very brittle, pro- 

 duce dense clusters of flowers at their tops. The 

 blooms are of a bright rose-colour, produced about 

 midsummer. The proper name is Stropholirion cali- 

 fomiewn. 



Brunsvigia.— These are South African plants 

 of the Amaryllis family, and numbering about eight 

 species, but only a few of these are at present in 

 gardens. They are all characterised by their large 

 bulbs, broad foliage, and by their flowers being 

 borne in many -flowered umbel-like clusters on stout 

 stems, produced in autumn before the foliage. Being 

 natives of the hot sandy plains of South Africa, they 

 require all the direct sun-heat and light which it is 

 possible to give them in this country. They there- 

 fore succeed best when the bulbs are allowed full ex- 

 posure to the sun and kept dust-dry after the foliage 

 has decayed. Where no special house for bulb culture 



exists, a good place for the Brunsvigias, BupJiimes, 

 and bulbs of a like description, is on a shelf of an 

 airy and unshaded green-house. Starting from the 

 point, say, when the bulbs are received from the Cape, 

 they should not have a drop of water until either 

 flower-spikes or leaves show indications of spring- 

 ing up. If the bulb contains a flower-spike this will 

 be probably developed if no water is given, but if 

 watered the leaves would appear, and sometimes no 

 flower-spike. Large bulbs of this nature are very 

 apt to decay if care be not taken in watering ; if 

 kept without water for half the year they would not 

 only not suffer, but in many cases would be the 

 better for it. If the bulb repeatedly year after year 

 develops foliage instead of flower-spikes, the same 

 course must be pursued of baking it in the sun when 

 resting, and watering freely w T hen in leaf, until the 

 bulb is strong enough to flower. Any light kind of 

 soil will suit these bulbs, so long as it is moderately 

 rich, and open enough to allow of a free percolation 

 of water. They may be increased, but very slowly, 

 by offsets ; but, as they are imported direct at a 

 flowering age, home propagation is not worth the 

 trouble. Among the species in cultivation the two 

 best known are : — 



B. Joseph ince, producing a huge spreading cluster 

 of many flowers of a reddish-scarlet colour, there- 

 fore very showy in flower. 



B. multiflora, also a noble plant when in flower, 

 is more scarlet than the preceding. A variety of 

 this species named minor is also in cultivation. 



Bulbocodium. — One of the earliest of open-air 

 spring flowers is the little Bulbocodium vernum, a 

 common plant in old gardens. It much resembles a 

 Crocus or a Colchicum in the form and colour of its 

 blossoms. These expand just before the leaves un- 

 fold, one by one, and day after day, until the sheaths, 

 which contain half a dozen flowers, are exhausted. 

 The colour of the flowers is a bright violet -purple, 

 varying in shade in different plants. Such a pretty 

 bulb is therefore indispensable in the spring garden, 

 associated w T ith Snowdrops, early Crocuses, Snow- 

 flakes, and others. Being so dwarf, never more than 

 six inches high, it is a capital plant for a sunny spot 

 in the rocky garden, where it would flower sometimes 

 as early as January, while plants grown in the 

 borders, being later, would extend the flowering- 

 season for several weeks. It likes a sandy loam best 

 to grow in, and like most other bulbs it prefers being 

 undisturbed for at least three years, but for the pur- 

 pose of increasing it the bulbs may be taken up 

 and divided and re-planted ; as it produces numerous 

 offsets, the produce from one mass is sufficient to 

 re-plant a large space with the bulbs about four inches 

 apart. Bulbs potted in A ugust, and placed in frames, 



