140 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 24. 
PHYCELLA GLAUCA. 
This is also a variety of ignea, with the usual fiery 
scarlet flowers, with yellowish bottoms; the distinguish¬ 
ing marks are the glaucous leaves, red filaments, or 
stamens, which are about equal lengths with the style ; 
all these varieties inhabit the maritime, sandy hills, in 
the north of Chili, and they are of the most obstinate 
of bulbs to flower freely; but by taking up the bulbs 
while at rest they are just as easy to keep as the Van 
Thol Tulip. I once had a parcel of twelve kinds of 
bulbs from these parts in Chili, from a lady who had 
them many years, but could not flower one of them; 
some of them I failed to flower, but Phycella ignea, and 
its varieties, readily yielded on the slate shelf; and if 
the whole had been newly-imported, I think they would 
have flowered at once; but let some of these bulbs once 
get the wrong way, and it tires a man out to get them 
round again; so that if I were to try a curious expe¬ 
riment to-morrow with any of these Phycellas, I would 
rather wait for a fresh lot from Chili than take my 
chance with bulbs that have been in the hands of some 
growers for the last ten years. 
PHYCELLA HERBERTIANA. 
This is a three-flowered species, with narrow, blunt 
leaves, and purplish-red flowers on long peduncles; the 
bottom of the flower is orange-coloured, and the mem¬ 
brane a mere fringe all round the opening of the tube. 
It was discovered at a place called Cumbre, a pass in 
the mountains between Valparaiso and St. Jago, and is 
less conspicuous than those found down near the coast. 
PHYCELLA IGNEA. 
The leaves of the true ignea are tipped with red; the 
flowers, six on a scape, are bright scarlet, with a yellow 
bottom; the peduncles are long, giving a wide spreading 
to the umbel; the stamens are longer than the flowers, 
and the pistil longer than the stamens; the membrane 
is in the shape of two pointed teeth between each division 
of the flower. This is a hardy, dark bulb, but most 
difficult to flower well. It was first introduced into 
Lee’s Nursery. 
There are several other Pliycellas, known by dried 
specimens, sent home by different travellers, and no 
doubt some of the bulbs are in the country, but, as they 
are so very difficult to flower under the usual treatment, 
we may not hear more about them. Any one who may 
possess very dark-coloured bulbs from the arid plains of 
Coquimbo may rest assured that he has some kind of 
Phycella. We have several described from hence; also 
one from Mendosa, one from Colmo, and the finest of 
all from somewhere near Valparaiso, by Cumming, 
which is called magnified, of which I have a drawing 
now before me. The flowers are three inches-anda- 
half long; the tube is red; the middle part of the flower 
golden-yellow, and the top and opening a deep red, or 
crimson; and there is another variety of it with the 
flowers equally long, and nearly all red. That all these 
kinds are just as easily got at by any one interested in 
bulbs who lives at Valparaiso, or thereabouts, as any of 
the Cape Irids, there can be no doubt. All we want is 
a more general diffusion of “ useful knowledge ” about 
bulbs among our home amateurs, who have not the 
many perplexities incident to serving gardeners to con¬ 
tend with ; and we should excel in this line beyond the 
growers of any other country. 
PYROLIRION. 
This genus, which comes very near to, if not only a 
section of, Zephyranthes, is named the Eire-lily, from the 
fiery-orange of fiammeum, one of the species which grows 
common enough in corn-fields, and on hills near Con¬ 
ception, in Chili. Another species, not unlike it, is the 
Amaryllis aurea, of the “Flora Peruviana,” and grows in 
strong cultivated land all round Lima, where it flowers 
in January and February. Aureum was first introduced 
to the neighhbourhood of Liverpool by the late Richard 
Harrison, with whom it flowered so late as April; and 
there is a third species mentioned, but not yet intro¬ 
duced, that I am aware of. They agree with Zephyranthes 
in having only one flower on the scape, but they delight 
in stronger and more rich soil than any of the Zephyr- 
anths. The same strong yellow loam which suit Hip- 
peasters so well is the right thing for Pyrolirions. The 
flowers of aureum are stalkless and upright, and full four 
inches long; those of fiammeum are not quite so long; 
the leaves of both are long and narrow at both ends, 
and generally only two to a bulb. The stigma in these 
flowers is very curious—it divides into three parts, and 
each division is in the form of a spoon. 
SCILLA BLUMBEA. 
This is the last species on our list of half-hardy squills, 
and I introduce it first in order to show how such things 
get about in books on the science. This is a Cape of 
Good Hope species, which flowered at Ivew in 1813, 
when a drawing of it was made seventeen years after¬ 
wards, when it could be traced nowhere. The drawing 
was published in the “Botanical Register,” “ in the hope 
that others may be more successful;” but from that day 
to this the hope has not been realised, aud this lead- 
coloured Squill still remains to be reintroduced. 
SCILLA MAURITANICA, PIYACINTHOIDES, AND 
BREVIFOLIA, 
A s far as I can make out, are just in the same predica¬ 
ment as plumhea. They seem to have been fated for 
mishaps. Tournefort, or some great man of his time, put 
Linnasus on the wrong scent, and from his day to this 
hour we call a Scilla, that is common on both the 
western shores of the Mediterranean aud in the South 
of Spain, as if it were only found in Peru— Scilla Peru¬ 
viana of our borders. All the Squills are either blue or 
purple. Cupaniana, a very rare Sicilian bulb, is a light 
purple; and there is a white variety ; and a very pale 
pink variety of Bifolia, which I possess myself; of all 
the rest I only know of blue-flowered ones; and I quite 
agree with those who consider that colour is the only 
difference between Scillas and Ornithogalums; but I 
cannot account for it that the two groups have never 
been tried by florist breeders for improving the race. 
STENOMESSON. 
The genus Stenomesson is a very natural group of 
South American small bulbs, with red, scarlet, or 
orange flowers, mostly of one colour in each flower. 
The main feature on which the genus is founded is 
very apparent in the flower of almost all the species— 
a contraction of the middle part of the tube; from stenos, 
narrow, and rnesson, the middle. After this contraction, 
the flower widens upwards; and if one flower of any of 
the species were cut off a gardener might easily mistake 
it for the flower of a Bomarea. The bulbs are gene¬ 
rally dark, roundish, and with a very narrow neck; the 
style is larger than the stamens, and they are a little 
longer than the flower. They flower without much 
trouble, and like a free, sandy soil, a little shade from 
the mid-day sun, aud abundance of moisture at the roots 
in the height of summer, and complete rest from the end 
of October till March ; they also flower before the rise 
of the leaves. 
STENOMESSON CROCEUM. 
This is a very pretty, deep orange flower, with six or 
seven flowers in the umbel; it has the stamens shorter 
than any of them, not quite so long as the flower; the 
scape is a foot high ; the leaves are narrow, and a 
