AGAPANTHUS UMBELLATUS.

Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State, Basutoland, and Transvaal.

Liliaceae. Tribe Allioideae.

Agapanthus, L’Herit; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 798.

Agapanthus umbellatus, L’Herit. Sert. Angl. 17; Fl. Cap. vi. 402.

This well-known garden plant, commonly called the “Agapanthus” or “Blue Lily,” was introduced into cultivation in England from the Cape as far back as 1692, and was figured by Commelin of Amsterdam in 1697.

In South Africa the plant is characteristic of the vegetation found on high mountain ranges. It usually occurs on well-drained slopes.

It is a herbaceous plant with a tuberous rootstock from which 6-10 broad strap-shaped leaves arise. The lower stalk is about a metre high, and bears an umbel of 20-50 handsome blue flowers.

Description:—Rootstock short, tuberous, with fleshy cylindric roots. Leaves dark green, 6-10, basal, 20-60 cm. long, 2-4 cm. broad, strap-shaped, obtuse, glabrous. Peduncle O·25-1 metre high, terete, glabrous. Inflorescence a many-flowered umbel. Spathe-valves 2·5 cm. long, 2 cm. broad at the base, ovate, acuminate, withering in the mature inflorescence. Floral-bracts 2·7 cm. long, linear. Pedicels about 6 cm. long, terete, jointed at the apex. Flowers blue; perianth-tube 1·7 cm. long, 6 mm. in diameter; lobes 2-5 cm. long, 9 mm. broad, oblanceolate, obtuse. Stamens inserted at the throat of the perianth-tube; filaments 2·5-3 cm. long, arcuate; anthers oblong. Fruit a triquetrous capsule.