Hexandria. 
( 10 ) 
DELICATE AMARYLLIS. 
T he former Species, obtain’d from Linnaeus, by its uncommon Lurtrd^ 
the Epithet of Formosissima; Most Beautiful : perhaps this will 
make the Title doubtful. Its Profulion in the entire Clufter is a great 
Glory 5 and the more elegant, though fainter Colour, entitles it well to the 
Addition Delicate. At times it has flower’d iii the European Stoves.* but this 
has been (b feldom, and with fb much Variation, from the more or lefs advanta-^ 
geous Management, th^t they who poflTefs’d the feveral Plants doubted whether 
or not they were the fame Speciesj and the good Heister lately thought it fo 
glorious and fo wonderful a Sight, that when it burfl; for Flower, he wrote upon 
the Garden Gates an Invitation to fuperior Beings, to come down and look upon 
it. He thought the Plant that flower’d with him different from what had been 
defcrib’d by others, but ’twas only that it blow’d lefs perfe6Ily. This is the 
Afpe6f of the Clufter in Perfe«ftion, as it flower’d in China, though ’tis others 
wife the fame with his j as his own Root and Leaves here figur’d allb Ihew* 
The Stalk is robuft, Upright, arid crown’d at firft with a vrift fingle Bud, con-^ 
filling of many Flowers in a kind of Scabbard. When this burfts they throw 
themfelves naturally into a rounded Form, and play in various Elevations ; 
their Colour, which is pale at firft, grows ftronger as they ftand, and the whole 
Clufter remains a long time in Perfebliori. The Flower has nothing of that Sin-^ 
gularity which is lb confpicuous iri the preceding Species j but it is not altogether* 
regular, the Petrils not being all of equal Length. 
The Charadlers of the fixth Clafs, the Hexandria, are as confpicuoris and evi-* 
dent in this as in the laft named Species; and thefe bulbous Plants very happily 
Ihew that Diftinblion, which, though as certain in all others, is often oblcur’d by 
the Smallnefs of the Parts, or by their Situation in the Depth of the Flower. 
There is fomething that deferves Notice iri the Scabbard of this Plant ; the 
filmy Subftance, which performs the Office of a Cup, and holds the young Flow- 
ers, ’till they are ripe for burfting: tho’ the Materials of this, and the Form, pro- 
perly fpeaking, are the fame as in the other Kind, yet the Bignels in this makes 
a ftriking Difference, and it is more durable, and is not wholly diftitute of Co- 
lour. It is perhaps the moft Elegant of its Kind; and is the next Thing in 
Degree to the Cup in the Haemanthus, which the Incurious fiippofe a FloWer. 
The Term Scabbard, S^atha, is given to this kind of filmy Subftance, flipply- 
ing the Place and Office of a Cup ; but there is alfo another apparent Particu- 
larity in this Plant, thofe crimfon Threads which lie amorig the Footftalks of 
the Flowers rifing from the fame Bale. All who law them wonder’d ; but ’tis 
their Colour only which is particular. They are of the Nature of thofe F ilm s 
call’d Stipulse in other Plants, and there are the fame Subftances exa£lly, only 
White in every common many-flower’d Narciflus. 
Amaryllis Spatha multiflora eorollis insbqualibus foliis linguiformibus, Linns 
