[Plate 39.] 



THE YELLOW BLANDFORMA, 



(blandfordia flava.) 



A Herbaceous Greenhouse Perennial, from New Holland, belonging to the. Natural Order 



LlLIACEJE. 



THIS is evidently a variety of the well-known B. nobilis, an orange-coloured species 

 from New South Wales, introduced about the beginning of the present century. 

 The plant here figured- was introduced by Mr. Bull. Its leaves are tapering, nearly 

 erect, of a pale green colour. The flower-stem, which rises well above the foliage, springs 

 from the crown of the plant; the flowers, ten or more in number, are borne on the top 

 of the spike ; they are about two inches long, and nearly one and a half wide, bright 

 yellow in colour ; the petalite segments are six in number. It is a remarkably hand- 

 some plant, blooming in the autumn, and, like the rest of the species, it requires 

 greenhouse treatment. 



The Blandfordias form a very select division of the Liliaceous family, there being 

 only some seven or eight species in cultivation, all of which are indigenous to Australia 

 and the adjacent countries. 



Their cultivation is not difficult, but they increase slowly, and are propagated by 

 seeds, as also by division of the crowns or offsets. They may be divided a little before 

 the plants begin to grow in the spring, securing to each piece as many roots as 

 possible. The crowns thus taken off ought to be placed singly in three-inch pots, drained 

 well, and filled with good fibrous peat, broken fine ; to this should be added a little 

 leaf-mould and rough sand, to secure porosity. If to be grown from seeds, these should 

 be sown, as soon as they are ripe, in pots filled with finely-pulverised peat and sand ; a 

 little more warmth should be given them than that of an ordinary greenhouse until the 

 seed germinates, but the young plants must not be kept too warm, or they will grow 

 weakly. As soon as large enough, the seedlings must be placed singly in small pots, 



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