elliptic, concave, acute. Racemes terminal, sometimes
panicled, few-flowered. Bractes oblongly lanceolate,
concave, acute, keeled at the back, smooth and glaucous.
Pedicles smooth, about the length of the calyx,
more or less tinged with red, not transparent, and 3
times the length of the calyx as in H. tuber aria,
nodding before flowering, erect when in bloom, afterwards
reflexed. Calyx of 5 sepals, which are smooth
and glaucous, 2 outer ones very small, subulate; the
inner ones broadly ovate, concave, acute, tipped with
red, their margins scariose and membranaceous. Petals
5, obovate, with rounded points, distinct or
slightly imbricate at the base, much spreading. Stamens
from 40 to 50, spreading, the outer ones shortest:
filaments smooth and slender, pale yellow: pollen
orange-coloured. Germen downy. Style very short,
hid by the large stigma. Stigma capitate, granular.
Our drawing of this curious plant was made from
one at the Garden belonging to the Apothecaries’ Company
at Chelsea, where it was first raised from seeds
given to Mr. Anderson by Mr. George Don, who informs
us that it was cultivated in his father’s garden at
Forfar, a great many years back, as H. tuber aria, but
he is not certain from whence he first obtained his
seeds: it is rather tender, requiring the protection of
a frame or Greenhouse in Winter, succeeding well in
a mixture of sandy loam and peat, and is readily increased
by seeds, which ripen plentifully.