i • r
and brightest colour. Stamineous crenvn of 5 upright leaflets,
hollow on the inside, fleshy, of a bright glossy orange colour,
each producing a subulate horn, from a little above the base,
on the inside, the point of which bends inwards. Stamens 5,
alternate with the segments of the corolla, connected at the
base, and to the stamineous crown : anthers winged, close
pressed to the style, when burst attached by the pollen to
the stigma. Ovariums 2, smooth. 2, distinct, smooth,
connected at the point by a large 5-angular fleshy stigma,
hollow at the point.
The present handsome plant is a much scarcer species in
our collections than A. tuberósa, to which it is nearest related
; it is also more beautiful, the flowers being larger, and
the umbels produced in more abundance than in that species ;
we have not the least doubt but it is sufficiently distinct to
rank as a true species, as it has generally been supposed to
be by all botanists, except Pursh, who probably had not the
present plant in view ; its oblong blunt leaves, with a glossy
upper surface, and its lateral umbels of flowers, and decumbent
habit, at once readily distinguish it. In Messrs. Whitley,
Brames, and Milne’s Nursery, at Fulham, where our drawing
was made, it was planted in a border in the common garden
soil, where it was thriving most luxuriantly, much more so
than A. tuberósa, of which many plants were growing near
it ; we believe it would still grow stronger, and produce larger
umbels of flowers, if grown in peat soil, as we have noticed
that most of the species of this genus thrive better in peat
than in the common soil ; in favourable seasons it will produce
seeds, which is the best way of increasing it, as it
weakens the plants considerably by dividing the roots. Pursh
mentions it as growing in barren fields of Carolina, flowering
in June and Ju ly ; with us it flowers from the latter end of
June to the middle of September.
For the derivation of the generic name, see folio 18 of
the present series.
1. Calyx. 2. Corolla spread open, divested of all the other parts. 3. Stamineous crovrn
of 5 leaflets, tabular at the base, and each producing a subulate horn on the inside, where
they first become open. 4. The 5 winged Stamens. 5. The 2 Ovariums and Styles, the
points of the Styles cut through, to show how they are joined by the large 5-angular fleshy
Stigma.
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