FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
163 
to bloom a few weeks later, I recognized 
them at once as the above-named variety. 
A little later I received another lot of a 
hundred bulbs, which are now growing 
beautifully here in my garden. I have 
used them largely in my hybridizing 
work, with the following points in view: 
first, to introduce vigor and strong 
growth into my strain; second, to make 
my Amaryllis hybrids fragrant; and 
third, to obtain a more numerous flowered 
umbel. After having accomplished this, 
I never used the variety again. The first 
and second generation of seedlings had 
comparatively long tubes, but in the third, 
the wide open form and the short tube 
predominated. I still grow this Amaril- 
lis, however, for its own sake, and I 
always greatly admire it when in bloom. 
The long blunt leaves have a decidedly 
glaucous green color. 
The Parrot Amaryllis (H. psittaci- 
num), from southern Brazil, is not a gor¬ 
geously colored species; but it has been 
very fruitful in the production of first- 
class hybrids. The celebrated hybrid, 
“Empress of India/' raised by De Graaft 
Bros., of Leyden, Holland, one of the 
parents of the new race of show Ama¬ 
ryllis, was raised from this species. The 
tube is very short. The ground color is ' 
greenish-white and all the segments have 
a crimson edge and a green keel, with 
crimson stripes radiating from the keel. 
At one time, common in cultivation, it 
is at present difficult to obtain true to 
name. It grows vigorously in Florida, 
and is very interesting. 
H. rutilum is perhaps the most com¬ 
mon Amaryllis in the forests of southern^ 
Brazil near Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, 
etc., branching out in a number of very 
beautiful and distinct varieties. All are 
stoloniferous, producing numerous blind 
offsets around the base of the bulb, which 
may lie dormant for years. In the type 
the flowers are bright crimson with a 
green keel extending half-way up the seg¬ 
ments. In Milwaukee, where the Amaryl¬ 
lis belongs to the most popular house 
plants, I frequently noticed a beautiful 
bright yellow Amaryllis suffused with or¬ 
ange. It was even more common than 
Amaryllis Johnsoni. I frequently saw spe¬ 
cimens with io to 20 flowers all open at 
the same time. These specimens usually 
flower twice a year and the bulbs multi¬ 
ply rapidly by offsets. This Amaryllis 
proved to be H. rutilum fulgidum, from 
southern Brazil. I procured a few bulbs 
and planted them out in my Florida gar¬ 
den, where they soon formed imposing 
specimens. A former Floridian, a grad¬ 
uate of Rollins College, now in the em¬ 
ploy of the Brazilian Government as a 
horticultural expert, Prof. Adolf Hempel, 
sent me another beautiful variety, H. ru¬ 
tilum equestriforme, a very strong grow- 
ing kind. The flowers remind one some¬ 
what of an Orange Amaryllis. There is 
also a yellow form, H. rutilum citrinum, 
and a saffron colored subspecies, H. ru¬ 
tilum crocatum. These two forms, which 
would be very important for hybridizing 
purposes, I have not yet been able to add 
to my collection. 
H. aulicum, the Lily of the Palace, 
and its fine variety, H. aulicum platy- 
petalum, are natives of the Organ moun¬ 
tains, Brazil, where they grow abundantly 
among old rotten wood in shady places. 
Another still more floriferous varietv H 
aulicum robustum, comes from Blume- 
nau, southern Brazil. They all have 
beautiful glossy evergreen leaves, and all 
flower about Christmas or New Year’s 
time. The form of the large, widely 
open flowers is rather unsymmetrical 
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