AMARYLLIDACE^E. 
145 
known, because Amaryllis was the bella donna of Virgil, and 
her name was become proverbial for loveliness ; and he adds 
a further conceit, that some of the bulbs were said to be 
bitter, amarellas. Amaryllis belladonna is not one of the few 
species defined in that article, because, though he knew of its 
existence, he had it not to enumerate from the Clifford gar- 
den. Mr. Sweet was perhaps misled by knowing that equcstre, 
which is one of the plants described, was called belladonna 
by Merian ; but Merian only called it another belladonna, 
with reference to the plant of the Italian gardens, thinking 
erroneously that it was of the same genus. Barrelius had 
previously, in the year 1714, described the pink and white 
belladonna, as cultivated by that name in the gardens of 
Italy, and to the plant of Barrelius both Merian and Linnaeus 
alluded. It was the exquisite blending of pink and white in 
that flower, as in the female complexion, that suggested the 
common name in Italy, and to those lovely tints Linnaeus 
referred, when he assigned to it the name of a beautiful 
woman. To suppose he could have alluded to a bright 
orange flower would be perfectly absurd. It is, therefore, 
quite indisputable that Belladonna is the type of the Linnaean 
genus Amaryllis, and it would be an idle insult to the memory 
of Linnaeus to remove it without any cause. It is equally 
clear, that this genus Hippeastrum is quite distinct from 
Amaryllis, and, as belonging to a different section of the 
order, it has no proximate affinity to it. It is divided from 
Amaryllis Belladonna by the following features. 1. Hollow 
scape. 2. Black shelly seeds. 3. The seeds not bursting 
the capsule prematurely. 4. The oblique mouth of the tube 
abbreviated on the under side by the deeper incision of the 
perianth. 5. The fourfold instead of alternate diversity of 
the segments. 6. The fourfold instead of alternate insertion, 
(7.) the fourfold instead of alternate length, of the filaments. 
8. The nectareous beard or screen in several species. 9. The 
germen sloped from the peduncle. 10. The tube sloped from 
the germen. 11. The constriction of the germen in the 
middle. 12. The capsule widest instead of narrowest at its 
base. 13. The flower accompanying or following instead of 
preceding the leaves. 14. The growth of the leaves being 
vernal instead of autumnal. 15. The plants Occidental in- 
stead of African. 
An idea was adopted by Mr. Ker, that Amaryllidem some- 
times bore one sort of seed and sometimes another. In 1821 
L 
