300 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 11. 
globe, along the coast between C'araccas and Cartha- 
geua, where the species attain tlieir highest develop¬ 
ment; large, pure white flowers, with very large coronets, 
broad, strongly-veined leaves that rise on distinct foot¬ 
stalks, as speciosa, Guianensis, and arncena, alias Pan¬ 
cratium amcenum, of our old stoves, with their numerous 
varieties, but as they travel either to the south or to the 
north, they take such different forms and colours to suit 
the peculiarities of the countries and climates they 
inhabit as have misled the most learned, and hence 
such names as Choretis, Elisena, Callithauma, Ismene, 
and, probably, Eurycles, with Euerosia. If we, then, 
add to these the attempt recently made by Dr. Lindley, 
to unite Hymenocallis to the Pancratiums of the Old 
World, we shall have an assemblage of such beautiful 
and graceful forms, such delicious perfumes, and such 
varied colours, as the Tulip presents. Eor the present, 
however, it is sufficient for our purpose to know that 
the true Hymenocallises reach as far north as Virginia; 
that these hardy bulbs will cross freely, and have been 
so crossed with the finest and most perfect of the stove 
species, amcena, and speciusa, and thus, like the Cape 
Crinum longiflorum, and the great Columnar Asiatic 
species produce half-hardy, and much improved races; 
and that, although hitherto no Ismene has been got to 
cross with any of the true Hymenocallis, there does 
not' appear any impediment to such a cross, since 
Elisene and Choretis have been discovered, both of 
which seem to be as much related to the old Amancccs 
on the one hand, as to Hymenocallis on the other; in 
fact, the intervening links through which the most per¬ 
fectly yellow, and the best yellow bulb ( Ismene aman- 
cccs) of the whole American continent, seem destined 
to unite with the most beautiful and fragrant white 
flowers of either the Old or New World, for the pro¬ 
duction of new, valuable, half-hardv races, as varied in 
their aspects as those of Narcissus itself. Besides, if it 
should turn out that Callithauma is really an Ismene, 
dressed in emerald-green, see what endless variations are 
yet locked up from us in a few wild flowers, and these 
capable of being rendered more hardy at every turn of 
the cross. 
All the old gardeners must recollect the dozens and 
dozens of them called Pancratium anuenum, fray runs, or 
speciosum, that used to be grown in No. 1(> pots, in the 
pine stoves, five-and-twenty years ago. That beautiful 
and most fragrant flower is still the best in the genus, 
which is now called Hymenocallis, and Speciosa is the 
true name for it. 
All the Pancratiums belong to the Old World, all of 
them prefer dry to wet ground in a state of nature, and 
all of them have dry, black, shelly seeds. In these 
particulars they differ widely from Hymenocallis, which 
are all natives of the New World, prefer damp and even 
swampy soil to dry, and their seeds are more like ,soft 
round beans than anything else; but, notwithstanding 
all that, and even with the knowledge of the habit and. 
the habitation of a bulb in either genus, there is not a 
man who can tell the one from the other in the absence 
of the seed. No wonder, therefore, that some of our 
best liviug authors, having had to deal with new plants, 
without a knowledge of the seeds, have made wide mis¬ 
takes in Hymenocallis and its allied branches, as we 
shall see under the description of some of the species. 
All the species of Hymenocallis proper will do better 
in rich, heavy land, such as would grow beans well; and 
the stove ones will endure, and even enjoy, a stronger 
heat than the Pine-apple, if they have a constant supply 
of water at the roots, by having the pots kept in saucers 
of water all the summer; and the greenhouse ones from 
Guatemala, Mexico, and Florida, will thrive better if 
the pots and bulbs are plunged in water for three or 
four months in the summer; and I am half convinced 
that most of them might be grown in water-glasses, like 
Hyacinths, and would flower as freely as possible during 
the summer that way. I had more than enough of 
H. Harrisiana direct from Mexico, and the first of 
them that flowered in England was in pure water in a 
succulent house, by way of experiment, and with the 
great force of growth the seed pods split almost before 
the flowers faded, which was thought at the time to be a 
peculiarity belonging only to this one species, as is 
stated in the “ Botanical Register,” where it is first de¬ 
scribed ; but I suspect that the water culture in summer 
would stimulate all of them to freer growth—at least, I 
never found one of the family that would refuse to grow 
with a saucer of water under the pot. 
From the limited knowledge we possess of many new 
plants, when they are first described in botanical works, 
especially those from the north of India from Mexico, and 
Peru, where stove, greenhouse, and almost hardy plants, 
grow within short distances of each other, we are often led 
astray in which department to register our new plant. 
Stove plants are thus called greenhouse plants, and 
some that are all but hardy are referred to the stove, 
only because it so happened that the plant succeeded so 
far in the stove—then, wdien a compiler wishes to make 
out a catalogue or dictionary of plants, he must take 
them as they were first described in books of authority, 
whether they were right or wrong, except where he 
happens to know more of them than the first authors. 
All the greenhouse species of Hymenocallis in our Dic¬ 
tionary are right, except ocalifolia, which is a high 
stove kind, that has been lost for years ; but among the 
stove species are some that are as hardy as to have 
stood out-of-doors in England for nearly twenty years, 
flowered every summer, and ripened seeds in abundance, 
yet they were marked as stove plants on tlieir first 
coming. I shall not mention one, however, which I do 
not know would live in a greenhouse all the year round. 
Hymenocallis adnata. —This is the head of a race 
of very beautiful hardy bulbs, or all but hardy, natives 
of the more temperate parts of Mexico, and all aquatic, 
or half-aquatic bulbs—that is, if they are cultivated in 
pots, they ought to bo plunged in water from the end 
of April to October, and only receive common pot cul¬ 
ture in a frame or greenhouse through the winter ; but 
the best way would be to plant them by the side of 
shallow water, setting them as low in the mud as that 
the frost would not hurt them. The way to know the 
varieties of adnata —and perhaps there are many more 
of them to be introduced—is very simple: the bottom 
of the coronet adheres ( adnata ) to the flower or limb in 
every one of them, while in all the others it is free. 
A stove species, called expansa, is the very opposite to 
adnata —the flower of expansa opens so wide that it 
seems as if it were going to roll backwards, and the 
coronet stands out in the centre, looking more like the 
real flower than a nectarian appendage; in adnata the 
two cannot be separated, because they are glued toge¬ 
ther, as it were, all round the bottom. The usual name 
by which adnata is known in our gardens is Mexicana; 
the flower is all white, and the coronet is divided by 
deep slits. Dr. Herbert had it planted out in front of a 
stove, where the snow lay on it for some weeks, the first 
winter, without killing the leaves, and it blossomed in a 
large tuft for nearly twenty years, without any covering 
in winter all that time, but it had large doses of water 
in the summer. As many as sixteen flowers would 
come on a scape. 
Hymenocallis acutieot.ia. —This is but a variety of 
adnata, alias Mexicana, with narrow leaves, and the 
coronet not so much cut. It is a hardy greenhouse 
aquatic, that would flower out-of-doors plunged in a 
cistern, where it likes to remain all the year round, 
whether in or out. This beautiful bulb would grow 
and flower in a sitting-room, in a jar or glass of water, 
half filled with moss, and look very interesting. 
