Plate 174 . 
GASTEONEMA SANGUINEUM. 
The Cape of Good Hope (and indeed South Africa generally) 
has furnished us with so many beautiful bulbs, and has been so 
well ransacked by collectors, that we must consider the intro¬ 
ducers of this beautiful little bulb as peculiarly fortunate in 
having obtained so charming an addition to our already abun¬ 
dant treasures from that quarter of the globe. 
When we run over in our mind the many gorgeous and beau¬ 
tiful bulbs which are furnished to us from thence, from the 
stately Brunsvigia Josephines down to the slender yet beautifully- 
marked and graceful Ixias, we may well call it the “ paradise 
of bulbsmoreover, from the character of the climate, they 
are of such a character, as in many instances (the Gladiolus for 
example) to be perfectly hardy, and in nearly every instance, if 
not all, requiring at most the protection of a cool house, where 
they may be kept from frost. 
Gastronema sanguineum, scarlet-flowered Gastronema(Lindley), 
was introduced by the well-known firm of Messrs. Backhouse and 
Son, of York. “ The flowers are borne” (so they have described 
it to us) “ on single stems rising from six to twelve inches high 
from the bulbous root, and are from three to four inches across, 
resembling the expanded bloom of a large-flowering Crocus, 
but of a clear apricot scarlet, varying to pure scarlet or orange- 
red, and with the addition of a broad, pale (sometimes white), 
Amaryllis-like tube.” Being a native of the same country as Gla¬ 
diolus psittacinus , it will no doubt prove hardy. Dr. Lindley, who 
first named and described it, says, “It is a very handsome plant, 
deserving general cultivation even in the most select collection.” 
This description is well borne out by our figure, and we have 
no doubt that it will find a place wherever Cape bulbs or other 
