44 BULBS AND TUBEBOUS- ROOTED PLANTS. 



two or three degrees of frost it will continue to furnish its 

 heads of graceful, drooping flowers, bright scarlet, with 

 creamy-white stripes through each petal. The bulb is 

 about the size of a crocus corm, and is readily produced 

 by seeds, or slowly by offsets. The bulbs should be kept 

 warm and dry through the winter. The Bessera requires 

 the same conditions of cultivation, and the same care 

 when at rest as the Tigridia. The flower stems are from 

 twelve to twenty inches in height, producing an umbel 

 of from twelve to thirty flowers, very useful in all natural 

 arrangements of loose flowers ; they are especially fitted, 

 by contrast, to go with the Milla hiflora, with its unique 

 pure white flowers and graceful habit. The upper flow- 

 ers in the engraving (Page 43) are those of the Bessera. 



BLANDFORDIA. 



A genus of very beautiful Australian bulbs that 

 have long been known, and but little cultivated. They 

 are exclusively greenhouse, evergreen bulbs, and require 

 some degree of attention at all times, for which cause 

 they are but little grown, excepting in large collections, 

 and where plants are not grown for their commercial 

 value. Although the plant belongs to the Liliacece, its 

 habit of growth and general appearance more closely 

 resembles Amaryllidacece. It is a tuberous-rooted plant, 

 in consequence of which, its habit is entirely dissimilar 

 from that of bulbs. Its flowers are of gorgeous colors, 

 produced on short, strong stems, in regular umbels. 

 The plant requires regular greenhouse treatment, and to 

 be watered sparingly when not in active growth. Prop- 

 agation is readily effected by offsets. There are several 

 species, all of the same general character. 



B. Cunninghamii, with coppery red flowers, and 

 B. grandiflora, with orange and yellow flowers, 

 fully represent the species. 



BLOOD FLOWER. 

 See Hsemanthus. 



