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perianth slender, about an inch long. Segments broadly ovate,
or rounded, imbricate at the edges, of a cream colour,
gradually becoming whitish, or white, and disposed in a circular
form, scarcely exceeding half the length of the tube.
Crown pale yellow, very short and spreading, thrice shorter
than the segments, the edge slightly lobed, or, occasionally,
almost entire. Stamens 6, three inserted in the mouth of the
tube, with the anthers more or less exserted: and three inserted a
considerable way down the tube; Jilaments short, inserted into
the back of the anthers. Style smooth, included in the tube,
and about half the length of the stamens. Stigma 3-lobed :
lobes rounded, pustulose.
This fine Plant is, I believe, a native of France, and not
so common in our gardens as it deserves to be, being perfectly
hardy, and flowering freely in any rich deep soil; and
when in perfection, is not only much larger than here represented,
but is, perhaps, (to use a Florist’s phrase,) the most
elegant and beautiful trusser of the whole. It is annually
imported from Holland, with other bulbs, by the name of
Surpassant, and ranks in the genus at the head of the section
Rotulares, on account of its roundish stem, and green leaves;
thereby more approaching those species which precede it,
though, perhaps, not quite so rotular in its flowers as those
which follow : for we must ever keep in mind, in sections,
as well as genera, and even families, or higher, in the most
perfect arrangements of natural productions, that the actual
affinity, or approximation, in all groups, is the most complete
in the centre, and recedes in the extremities. Thus
are we enabled to pass, in the mind’s eye, as it were, and
without any abruptness in the transit, from the last termination
of one group, to the incipient coniine of the next,
which it most truly approaches. Our drawing was taken
from a specimen, sent from the Bristol Nursery.
A . H . H.
The generic name is already explained at fol. 118.
1. A Flower laid open. 2. P istil.
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