1871.] 
LACHENALIAS AS DECORATIVE PLANTS. 
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LACHENALIAS AS DECOKATIVE PLANTS. 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 
Mo AC HEN ALIAS are highly ornamental plants, much too little grown for 
decorative purposes. They are dwarf, bulbous, South-African plants, and 
therefore perfectly amenable to greenhouse culture ; and few subjects are 
gayer or more useful as contrasts with other bulbs, than they are when 
nicely grown. Our illustration represents three distinct and beautiful species 
which, with the more common L. luteolci , are equally deserving of general 
cultivation as decorative plants. They are :—1. L. pendula, of larger size and 
stature than the others, with plain green leaves, and peculiarly tinted reddish 
flowers tipped with green. 2. L. tricolor, a free-flowering sort, with spotted 
leaves, and yellow flowers margined with green and red. 3. L. aurea (Lindl . 
Garcl. Chron. 1856, 401), a very scarce sort, of which a coloured figure has not 
hitherto been published, and which has slightly spotted leaves, purple- 
speckled scapes, and very beautiful waxy flowers, which are wholly of a rich 
apricot or golden yellow. For the figures of L. aurea and L. pendula we are 
indebted to the collection of the Eoyal Horticultural Society at Chiswick, and 
for that of L. tricolor to the collection of W. Wilson Saunders, Esq., of Eeigate. 
Mr. Barron, who grows these plants most successfully as conservatory 
ornaments, has kindly communicated the following notes on their cultivation :— 
“ These pretty and graceful spring-flowering bulbs are of the easiest possible culture, yet 
bow seldom do we see them now! Once or twice only of late years have we bad them 
passable at our early spring shows, where their extreme grace and quiet beauty should surely 
command them a place. It cannot be that they are difficult of cultivation: that very fact 
would secure their ‘ being taken in hand ’ and ‘done well.’ No! It must surely be because 
of the simplicity of their wants, and the little skill required, or that can be displayed, in 
‘showing them off,’ that, modest subjects as they are, they are neglected. Fie on us! 
“ When the plants have done flowering, water should be withheld gradually, and by and 
by altogether. They may be kept in a 'frame until all the leaves have died off, and then 
placed in any convenient place, where they may only be kept dry. In August or early in 
September the bulbs should be taken out of the pots and soil, and assorted, i.e., the larger and 
the smaller ones each put by themselves. For soil, get some fresh turfy loam and peat, with 
some sand, and a little manure, mixed up together, aud fill this into clean 48-sized pots, well 
drained,—the latter a very important point; place from five to eight uniform bulbs in each pot, 
and just slightly cover them with soil, then water and place in a cold, close frame until they 
commence to grow. In October they must be placed in some cool pit or house near to the 
glass, as they love abundance of light and air. The temperature must just be sufficient to 
exclude frost, but they dislike heat, which makes the leaves draw up weakly and lanky. They 
require careful watering during winter, otherwise at that season they are liable to die off. 
When coming into flower, however, they need abundance of water, and sometimes a little heat 
is beneficial to help the flowers to expand. 
“ The different sorts cannot be treated exactly alike, the beautiful L. aurea, for instance, 
which has been nearly lost to our gardens, having an awkward habit of refusing to grow at all 
some seasons. The bulbs which produced the flowers from which the figure was taken, rested 
for the two seasons previous, remaining quite dormant, and this season they have only started 
into growth after having the assistance of a strong stove temperature. This is strange, 
yet true!” 
It will be in the recollection of many persons who saw them, that Mr. 
Stevens, gardener to G. Simpson, Esq., Wray Park, Eeigate, exhibited at South 
Kensington, last spring, a charmingly-flowered basket of L. luteolci. Nothing 
3rd series.-IV. N 
