ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
Corolla 6-petala, infera; petalis tribus interioribus longioribus. Stamina erecta. Capsula subovata trialata. Semina globosa.
Blossom six petals, beneath; the three inner petals the longest. Chives erect. Capsule nearly egg-shaped, three-winged. Seeds globular.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Lachenalia foliis geminis, ovato-oblongis, humi adpressis; corollis campanulatis pedunculatis horizontalibus; petalis sub-æqualibus; scapo erecto.
Lachenalia with one pair of leaves, oblong-egg-shaped, laying on the ground; blossoms bell shaped with foot-stalks, growing horizontally; petals nearly equal; flower-stem upright.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A Blossom with the Chives in their place, one of the tips detached
and magnified.
2. The Seed-bud, Shaft and Summit.
3. The same, magnified.
4. The Seed-bud, cut transversely, magnified.
The extreme fragrance of this plant, amply compensates for its want of beauty; it retains its sweetness through the whole period of its flowering, which is of near a month’s continuance. There is a species of this genus, much resembling our plant in flower, but nothing in the leaf; it is known by the name of L. patens, and has been frequently sold for this, but its scent is quite different, and it flowers much earlier; that is to say, in the month of March, but the L. fragrans does not produce its blossoms till May. It is a very hardy greenhouse bulb, and requires no particular management to make it flower; this, however, it does not do, but once in two years; not even appearing in foliage, but in the second year from its flowering. Our figure was made at the Hammersmith Nursery, to which it was introduced, from the Cape of Good Hope, in the year 1798.[Pg 29]
