JULY. 
141 
NEW VARIETIES OF AMARYLLIS (HIPPEASTRUM). 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 
The late Dean Herbert, who was a very learned man on all matters 
relating to bulbous plants, regarded that group of the old genus Amaryllis 
to which our illustrations belong, as sufficiently distinct to form a separate 
family, which he named Hippeastrum. Others, including some leading 
botanists of the present day, regard the differences which exist as of lesser 
moment, and rank the Hippeasters as a subgenus only. While authorities 
thus differ, it is obviously unimportant which name is preferred. The more 
popular one is Amaryllis, which we adopt. 
The Durdham Down nurseries of Messrs. Garaway & Co., near Bristol, 
have long been famed for the cultivation of these Hippeastrum forms of 
Amaryllis, and also for the production of fine varieties. The splendid 
A. Akermanni pulcherrima, probably the richest-coloured and finest-shaped 
variety yet obtained, was raised there some eighteen years since by the 
late Mr. Mayes, then a member of the firm, and since that time other fine 
sorts have been added. From some of these, exhibited in the spring of 
the present year at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Meeting at South 
Kensington, our present illustration has been prepared, and we have to 
thank Messrs. Garaway & Co. both for samples of the flowers, and for the 
particulars annexed. The two varieties we have selected were, it appears, 
raised from other seedlings unnamed :— 
Henry Gibbs (%. 1). —This belongs to the vittatum group, upon all the varieties of 
which it is a great improvement in the perfect definition of the markings. The flowers are 
of a fine carmine crimson, with a sharply defined white bar down the centre of each segment, 
and a white margin. They measure 5 inches in expansion, and 4 inches in length, and the 
perianth segments are elliptic and pointed, the sepaline ones If inch wide, the petaline 
narrower. 
Helena (jig. 2).—This flower hears a strong resemblance to equestris, and is remarkable 
for its finely-shaped flowers, of a bright orange scarlet, with a dash of crimson, the perianth 
segments spreading so as to be fully presented to view. The flowers measure 4i inches in 
expansion, with a tube 3 inches in length, and the perianth segments are ovate (the lowest 
one only narrower), and obtusely apiculate. This is probaby the most perfect in shape of 
any variety known. 
Too much cann'ot be said in praise of the fine hybrid forms of Amaryllis 
as effective plants for conservatory decoration. They can be had in flower 
at any required time, and some of the varieties grow so freely that large pots 
of them can be very speedily had with a little care. In illustration of this 
fact, we have before us a photograph, taken in March last, of a plant of 
A. psittacina Johnsoni, which bore twenty-eight flow r ers. It consisted of 
a single bulb two years ago, and has now three offsets. The parent bulb 
has three flower-stems, and the offsets two each, making nine; three stems 
bear four flowers, four bear three flowers, and two others not opened bear 
two each, making twenty-eight, fourteen of which were fully expanded 
when the photograph was taken. 
“ We find these plants do best,” write Messrs. Garaway & Co., “ in loam 
and leaf mould, with a little sand. The pots should be well drained, and the 
bulbs when growing supplied freely with water. We do not believe in 
shaking out when at rest, as recommended by some, thinking that the bulb 
is not improved by having all the healthy roots of the previous year 
destroyed; neither do we entirely dry them oft when at rest. We keep 
them in a cool place, and water them occasionally, and as they show signs 
of growth bring them into a greater heat, and treat in the usual way.” 
VOL. VI. . H 
