PLefugium Botanicum.] (January, 1870. 
TAB. 171. 
Natural Order LintacEzx. 
Tribe HyAcINTHES. 
Genus LAcHENALIA, Jacq. 
LL. oncutorwss (Ait. Kew. i. p. 460). Foliis geminatis lanceolatis falcato- 
patulis carnoso-herbaceis 4—6-plo longioribus quam latis, scapo 
tereti erecto foliis subsquante, floribus 12—40_horizontaliter 
patulis dense subspicatis, perigonio tubuloso-campanulato semipol- 
licari triplo longiore quam crasso, laciniis interioribus spathulatis 
ore patulis exterioribus distincte excedentibus, staminibus mox 
perigonio subequantibus. — Kunth, Enum. iv. p. 284; Jacq. Coll. 
vol. iii. p. 241; Jc. vol. ii. t. 890. L. mutabilis, Sweet Brit. Flow. 
Gard. ser. 2, t. 129. 
A native of the Cape of Good Hope. 
Bulb ovoid, white-tunicated, three-quarters to an inch in thick- 
ness. Leaves two, clasping the base of the stem, four to six 
inches long by an inch or rather more broad at the middle, 
a moderate not glaucous green, not at all or only faintly spotted 
with deeper green, fleshy in texture, erecto-falcate, flat beyond 
the inner third. Scape four to six inches long, erect, terete, 
often maculate. lowers twelve to forty, sessile or nearly so, in 
a spike two to four inches long by an inch to an inch and a 
quarter broad, spreading horizontally, the uppermost barren and 
dwarfed. Bracts lanceolate, two to three lines long. Perianth 
five to six lines long, pale or pinkish, cut down to a shallow cup, 
the outer divisions greenish and gibbous below the point, the 
inner spathulate, distinctly exceeding the outer ones and patulous 
at the tip. Stamens and filiform style slightly declinate, the 
former quite as long as the inner segments. Ovules ten to twelve 
in a cell. 
The genus Lachenalia may be divided into four convenient 
sub-genera, founded upon the shape of the perianth. From the 
other species in which it is three or four times as long as thick, 
this and the preceding, with L. glaucina (Bot. Mag. t. 3552), 
differ by having the flowers nearly or quite sessile. The three 
are very near to each other, and quite agree in general habit. 
Tab. 171.— 1, separate. flower; 2, inner and outer petal, with two 
stamens; 3, pistil; 4, horizontal section of ovary: all magnified.—J.G.B. 

This plant should be treated exactly as the last, and is a very 
constant flowerer.—W. W. S. 
