LACHENALIAS. 



219 



4. Coelantlms, similar to Baker's. 



All Lachenalias are natives of the Cape of Good Hope. It is 

 not easy to say when the first species was introduced into Great 

 Britain, but it is certain that L. orchioides was cultivated and 

 had flowered in this country previous to 1752. This is the first 

 species recorded. From 1752 onwards, new species appeared at 

 irregular intervals, a large addition to the number being made 

 by Masson in 1774. L. tricolor appeared in 1790, and as 

 recently as 1884 three new species were introduced by Ware, 

 and named by Baker L. fistulosa, L. lilacina, and L. odora- 

 tissima, all belonging to his fourth group, Chloriza. The first 

 authenticated garden seedling was L. Nelsoni, which was raised 

 by the late Rev. John Nelson, and flowered in 1880. Nothing has 

 since appeared to surpass it, or even to equal it. Lachenalias 

 have all moderately sized tunicated bulbs, the strongest being 

 about as large as that of a good Scilla siberica, the weaker-growing 

 species having bulbs not larger than that of a Snowdrop. The 

 leaves appear first ; they are generally well developed before the 

 flowers appear, but to this there is one exception. I am informed 

 by Mrs. Tait, of Oporto (to whom I am indebted for much 

 information), that in the case of Lachenalia rubida the leaves 

 and scapes appear simultaneously, or almost so, and that the 

 leaves continue to grow, and only attain their full development 

 after the flowers have withered. This has occurred each year, 

 and is constant. In wild specimens the number of leaves is, in 

 the case of Lachenalia unifolia, one, and in other species two or 

 rarely three ; but in strong cultivated specimens three, four, and 

 even five leaves are found. The flowers are borne on stout scapes 

 which are either green or beautifully mottled with reddish purple, 

 and sometimes covered with a glaucous bloom. Frequently 

 these scapes at the apex pass into bright red. This is more 

 marked in some of the seedling forms, and is in them a most 

 attractive feature. The flowers are arranged in racemes, or in 

 more or less dense spikes. At the top of the inflorescence they 

 pass into imperfectly developed and sterile buds, these sterile 

 buds sometimes, as in the case of the upper portion of the scapes, 

 being bright red, and not the least handsome part of the in- 

 florescence. 



It is amusing to note the varied cultural directions given by 

 different writers, and certainly some of the directions if followed 



f 2 



