.iri;
ril
bright orangy scarlet, with a dark purple line down the
centre; 3 lower ones connected at the base, spatulate,
acute, the lower one a little acuminate, of a golden yellow,
all but the points, Avhich are scarlet. Stamens 3,
inserted in the throat of the tube: filaments bent round
like an arch, villosely hairy, attached to the back of the
anthers a little above the base: anthers linear, sagittate
at the base: pollen cream-coloured. Style very hairy,
bent downward in the same direction as the stamens.
Stigmas 3, spreading, the points spatulate and fimbriate.
This handsome species has been lost to our collections
for many years, and has now been reintroduced from
the interior of the Cape by Mr. Synnot; several bulbs
of it have flowered this Summer at the Nursery of Mr.
Colvill, where our drawing was made; it is rather surprising
that so handsome and curious a plant should
have been lost from all the collections, particularly as
it increases very freely by the offsets from its bulbs,
which are produced in abundance; we believe that this
species and many other Cape bulbs have been lost, by
cultivators planting them in peat and leaf-mould, which
is not strong enough to support them, so that the bulbs
soon dwindle away to nothing; the leaf-mould is also
much infested with different sorts of caterpillars, whicli
very frequently destroy all theplants that are planted in
it, by devouring their roots.
The present plant requires precisely the same sort of
treatment as G. viperatus, to which it is nearly related;
an equal mixture of turfy loam, peat, and sand, will suit
them very well; and if allowed to remain in the open
ground all the Winter, they will require to he covered
in frosty weather.
1. T h e in n e r valve o f the S p a th e , showing its hifid point. 2. Tlie th re e u pper
segments of the P e ria n th ium , w ith two o f the Stamens inserted in the mouth o f
the tu b e , the filaments thickly clothed with short hairs. 3. The 3 lower segments
and the othe r Stamen. 4. Germen, te rmin a ted by the hairy Style, an d
3 spatulate fimbriated Stigmas.
If L