attenuated at the apex. Stigma slightly 3-lobed. Capsule
rounded, 3-celled, 3-valved. /»eerfs oblong, angular, exteriorly
convex, with a black crustaceous testa.
Our drawing was taken from a plant which blossomed in
Mrs. Marryat’s collection at Wimbledon, in the spring of
1834. Mrs. Marryat received the bulb from her nephew,
Capt. Belcher, R.N., but she is uncertain where he collected
it. The bulbs were said to be used as a substitute for soap.
We have delayed publishing the drawing in the hopes of
obtaining further information respecting the plant, but we
have no doubt of its being identical with the species to
which we have referred it. The Phalangium pomeridianum
was originally noticed by De Candolle in the catalogue of
the Montpellier garden published in 1813, and a figure and
description of the plant subsequently appeared in the eighth
volume of Redoute’s Liliacees. The plant had been received
by De Candolle from Bordeaux, and it is supposed to be a
native of the Cape of Good Hope. Except in its slightly
divided stigma and bulbous root, the plant appears to differ
in no respect from the genus to which we have referred it.
It is a half-hardy bulbous plant, but will require the
protection of a frame in winter.
The generic name is that of a liliaceous plant mentioned
by Dioscorides, and which was regarded as an antidote to
the bite of a spider or tarantula, named faX a y ^ , faXayyoç.
D . Don.
1. Capsule.