BULBOUS PLANTS. 



343 



gardens. These are T. imiflora and T. alliacea, both 

 natives of South America, and both pretty out-door 

 bulbs. There is a bulb, however, which goes so 

 generally by the name of Triteleia, though properly 

 a Brodicea, that it is well, for convenience sake, to 

 mention it with the Tritelcias. This is T. laxa, a 

 beautiful Californian plant, also grown as Seubertia 

 laxa. It is a slender- growing plant, bearing erect 

 flower-stems a foot or more high, terminated by an 

 umbel-like cluster of bright purple flowers. There 

 are various forms of it, differing chiefly in colour 

 and size. These are Murrayana, major, maxima, 

 atropurpurea (dark purple), alba (white), and rosea 

 (pink). It is therefore a valuable plant, and deserves 

 good attention. It thrives to perfection in any open 

 sunny spot ; a warm border near a sunny wall being 

 the place it likes best. The soil must be light and 

 sandy, and it is advisable to cover the bulbs in 

 winter with fern, or some kind of mulching. The 

 bulbs may be planted in September or October, 

 at not less than three inches deep. Some grow it 

 admirably in pots under frames, and take the plants 

 when in flower to the green-house. It may be in- 

 creased by bulblets or seeds. 



T. imiflora is a valuable plant, as it flowers out 

 of doors even before winter* is past. It is a dwarf 

 free-flowering plant, producing starry flowers, and 

 varying from white to porcelain-blue in the variety 

 Ulacma. T. alliacea, also called Leucocoryne, is an 

 inferior plant. 



Tritonia. —This is a brilliantly-flowered genus 

 of Cape bulbs, and* allied to Ixia and Babiana. There 

 are only about nine species, but these have yielded 

 a large number of varieties. They resemble the 

 Sparaxis, the form and size of the flowers being 

 much the same in both genera, but the colours differ, 

 for while in Sparaxis the flowers are mostly parti- 

 coloured, in Tritonia they are chiefly self-coloured. 

 They possess a wide range of brilliant as well as 

 subdued tints, varying from the brightest orange- 

 scarlets to quiet blush tints and whites. The prin- 

 cipal species are : T. crocata, which has large open 

 flowers of a bright orange ; the names of varieties 

 purpurea, sanguined,, coecinea, aurantiaca, indicate the 

 colours of the flowers, and these are to be found 

 under popular names in bulb lists. T. miniata has 

 brick-red flowers, and is very pretty. T. hyalina, or 

 fenestrate as it is more commonly called, has the 

 flowers beautifully netted, and so has T. squalida. 

 The other species are not particularly attractive. 

 There are about a dozen kinds in bulb lists, all 

 of which are pretty, and among them may be found 

 all the original species and varieties introduced a 

 century ago from the Cape. The names of the best 

 are amoyna, Bella, Brilliant, crocata, Eclair, elegans, 



fenestrata, spcciosa, and squalida. Tritonias require the 

 same treatment as Ixias, Babianas, and other Cape 

 bulbs, and the showiest kinds, such as T. crocata, are 

 particularly valuable for pot-culture for conservatory 

 decoration in spring. 



Tulbaghia violacea. — An elegant little hardy 

 Cape bulb, requiring aquatic treatment. It bears 

 slender flower-stems, terminated by dense clusters of 

 about a dozen small violet-purple flowers. 



Tulipa [Tulip). — Familiar as the common garden 

 Tulips must be to every one, the wealth of the genus 

 as a whole is comparatively little known. There are 

 upwards of fifty species known to botanists, but only 

 about a dozen of these are known generally. The 

 numberless varieties of garden Tulips have sprung 

 from very few species, and these have been in 

 cultivation for generations. Among these wild 

 Tulips, which, on account of their extreme beauty, 

 are worthy of mention here, are : T. Celsiana, 

 a small-growing plant with bright canary-yellow 

 flowers, produced in the early part of May. T. 

 Clusiana, a lovely plant of humble stature, having 

 smallish flowers of pure white flushed with rose-pink. 

 Being a native of South Europe it needs protecting 

 in the winter. Of similar appearance, and as hardy, 

 is a. North Indian species, T. stellata, so beautiful as 

 to merit culture. The flowers are large, white, and 

 of beautiful form. T. cornuta is a distinct-looking 

 plant with narrow twisted petals. T. Greigi is the 

 .noblest of all Tulips, and one of the most gorgeous 

 flowers in nature. The blossoms are often six inches 

 across, of an exquisite cup-like form, and of the most 

 brilliant scarlet imaginable, spotted with black. 

 It is quite hardy, and thrives in ordinary soil in 

 a warm sunny border, but its extreme beauty entitles 

 it to be grown as a pot plant in frames. A native of 

 Turkestan. These comprise the very best of the 

 wild Tulips, but the following species are well worth 

 growing, being very showy, and are mostly different 

 from the- common garden sorts. These are T.Altaica, 

 Australis, biflora, carinata, elegans, fulgens, Haageri, 

 Kolpakowskiana, maculata, oculis-solis, Persica, retro- 

 flexa, saxalilis, sylvestris, and triphylla. It is a 

 good plan to grow these species of Tulips in a bed 

 by themselves, which should consist of light soil, and 

 be drained. They do not require lifting every season, 

 but about every third season, and at the time of 

 lifting the offsets may be separated for increasing 

 the stock. 



Garden Tulips. 

 These may be classed under two heads, early and 

 late flowerers. The first group comprises the sorts 

 which flower in early spring naturally, and which 

 may be forced into bloom in midwinter. The late 



