FUNKIA OVA'TA. 
OVATE-LEAVED FUNKIA. 
Class. Order. 
HEXANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
LILIACE^. 
Native of 
Heio-ht. 
j Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
Japan. 
feet. 
1 May, July. 
Perennial. 
in 1776. 
No. 596. 
Fimkia is a name adopted by Sprengel, after the 
German botanist, Henry Funk. This plant was 
long known as the Hemerocallis cerulea, but was 
divided, with the species Japonica, from that genus 
by Sprengel, who, somewhat unnecessarily, likewise 
changed their specific names. 
The Funkia ovata is not admired for its flowers 
alone, but also for its foliage, which is handsome 
and not inconveniently spreading. When first in- 
troduced it was cultivated as a tender plant, for w^e 
find mention in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, that 
it was thought to bloom best in the stove, but that it 
would thrive very well in the greenhouse. By this 
we learn that it may be forced with success, as an 
indoor ornament, if it be desired. This species 
never fails to flower in the borders; but the Funkia 
Japonica, a similar plant with white flowers, rarely 
blossoms in the open ground, wanting, it is probable, 
the stimulus of the greenhouse, a situation of which 
it is quite worthy. 
The Funkia ovata, although native of a warm 
climate, grows freely in our common soil ; and may 
be divided for increase in spring or autumn. 
Loudon’s Ency. of PI. 260. 
