RICHARDIA 
237 
the plant is botanically apart from the 
Arums, and is certainly not a Lily. 
The name Calla^ once commonly 
applied to it, is yet worse, as belong- 
ing of right to plants widely severed 
from this tender South African group ; 
while the title " White Lily of the Nile" 
(proper to the Lotus) is falsely used for 
the White Arum, which is unknown as i 
a wild plant within the Nile region. 
But, spite of the fumings of botanists, 
the names White and Yellow Arum are 
likely to survive in common 
usage. All the kinds are 
from South Africa, but the 
newer sorts come from far 
inland, where the climate 
differs from that of the 
southern and coast region ; 
their treatment under glass 
is, therefore, not quite the 
same as for the older kinds, 
more heat in growth and a 
time of rest between the 
seasons beingneeded. From 
failingto recognise this fact, 
many growers were at first 
disappointed with the Golden Richar- 
dias, but, as their needs have become 
better known, their value and brilliance 
during spring and early summer are 
beyond doubt. Most of the plants are 
readily increased from suckers taken in 
spring, or, where it is to be had, from 
seed,which is the best means of increase. 
All the Richardias need a rich soil and 
abundant moisture during growth, with 
heat, or at least shelter from cold. 
As a group, the Richar- 
Beauty and Uses. , . ° ^ ' , 
dias possess rare beauty 
of form, such as appeals even to those 
most untrained in things of art. Fine 
as is the shape and pose of the Acan- 
thus, famed in Grecian sculpture, one 
is tempted to conceive how the genius 
of classic art would have immortalised 
the shapely lines of the Richardia, with 
its arrow-headed leaves presenting a 
succession of the most graceful curves 
from base to tip, the early bud folded 
in an exquisite spiral, and the perfect 
purity of the open spathe, combining 
something very near the perfection of 
Fringe of Whitk Richardias at the Waterside. 
grace incarnate. Grown in pots and 
under glass — the worst of all ways for 
beauty^ — -this grace is still conspicuous ; 
but to realise to the full its stateliness 
and charm, one must see it at the water- 
side as in Nature, thronging the margin 
of a quiet pool in crowded thousands, 
or, where the flow is stronger, scattered 
along the course in picturesque dis- 
order, just as the floating seeds have run 
aground. Whether it be in isolated tufts, 
with the old leaves dipping lower and 
lower, still in a graceful bend, till they 
touch the water and sink to prepare 
