CYRTANTHUS OBLIQUUS.

Cape Province, Natal.

Amaryllidaceae. Tribe Amarylleae.

Cyrtanthus, Ait.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol iii. p. 729.

Cyrtanthus obliquus, Ait.; Hort. Kew. vol. i. p. 414; Fl. Cap. vol. vi. p. 219; Wood, Natal Plants, vol. iv. t. 391.

This beautiful Cyrtanthus was described by Aiton in 1789, probably from plants collected in South Africa by Masson, who sent specimens of this species to England in 1774. The fact that it has been so frequently figured is an indication that it has appealed largely to horticulturists. Jacquin first produced a coloured plate in 1797 and the last figure we know of in botanical literature is that quoted above.

The specimens from which the present plate was prepared flowered in the Gardens of the Division of Botany, Pretoria, from bulbs gathered on the mountains at Bethelsdorp near Port Elizabeth by Dr. I. B. Pole Evans.

In Natal this plant is known as “Justifina” or “Sore-eye flower” by the natives, who use it medicinally, as “Matoonga.”

Description:—Bulb globose, about 10 cm. in diameter, with a short neck about 4 cm. long, and thick cylindrical roots from the base; outer tunics membranous. Leaves 18 cm. long, 4 cm. broad, strap-shaped, obtuse, glabrous. Peduncle 28 cm. long, 1·3 cm. in diameter at the base, cylindric, tapering slightly towards the apex, hollow, glabrous. Inflorescence an umbel of 6 flowers. Bracts 3 cm. long, 1 cm. broad, ovate, sub-acuminate, acute. Pedicels 2 cm. long, cylindric, glabrous. Flowers pendulous. Perianth-tube 4·5 cm. long, 2 cm. in diameter at the throat, funnel-shaped; outer lobes 2·5 cm. long, 1·4 cm. broad, oblong, slightly mucronate; inner lobes 2·4 cm. long, 1·7 cm. broad, obovate, obtuse, green, passing into yellow and red at their base. Stamens arising from near the base of the perianth-tube; filaments 3 cm. long, cylindric; anthers 4 mm. long, oblong. Ovary sub-globose, 5 mm. long, about 6 mm. in diameter; style 7·9 cm. long, cylindric; stigma faintly 3-lobed.