67 



CRINUMS. 



By Sir Charles W. Strickland, Bart., F.R.H.S. 

 [Read October 1-1, 1890.] 



In the remarks that I am going to make upon the plants of the 

 genus Cr inum with which I am acquainted I do not intend to 

 deal in any way with the naming of them. Many of those that 

 I know have had two or more different names given to them, 

 and a large number of the names that I know have been applied 

 to two or more different plants. All that I propose to do is to 

 try and arrange in some kind of order those plants which I have 

 had in cultivation ; but as this includes only a part of those 

 described by Mr. Baker and others, it must be understood that a 

 fuller acquaintance with all the recorded species might materially 

 alter this arrangement. I divide the genus into two large 

 groups, which are very distinct from one another both in their 

 habit of growth and in the form of the flowers. The first has 

 •columnar, leafy bulbs like a Leek, evergreen leaves, for the most 

 part erect and spreading, and perfectly even, symmetrical, star- 

 shaped flowers on the top of straight, upright tubes, and with 

 upright, spreading, usually straight stamens. This group includes 

 Mr. Baker's sub-genera of Stenaster and Platy aster, between 

 which I cannot see any sufficiently marked line of distinction. 

 A large part of this group comes from Asia, Australia, and the 

 South Sea Islands, especially those with very narrow petals. 

 A few very beautiful forms with wider petals come from tropical 

 America. The other group is the same as Mr. Baker's sub- 

 genus Codonocvinum. These are very different in character from 

 the first group. They have round bulbs like an Onion, many of 

 them are deciduous, and others which are not quite deciduous 

 grow in a similar manner to the deciduous ones. The tube of 

 the flowers is curved, and the flowers are nodding, bell-shaped, 

 and more or less ringent, and with broad petals. The stamens 

 are curved, often lying close together. There appear to be a few 

 species which are more or less intermediate between the two 

 great groups. There are only two or three of these which I 

 liave any acquaintance with, but I think that most of the species 

 which I have not seen, which are figured, may be arranged in 

 one of the two groups. 



