Petals 6. Honey-cup 12-cleft. Stamens seated on the nectary.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Pancratium spathâ multiflorâ, fragrantissimâ: foliis longo-lanceolatis, corollæ laciniis tubum excedentibus: nectario 6-lobato, sinubus sub-denticulatis. Willd. Sp.
Pancratium with the sheath many-flowered, and very sweet-scented: the leaves long-lanced, the divisions of the blossom longer than its tube: and the nectary 6-lobed, mostly with little teeth between.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower spread open.
Several species of the genus Pancratium approach so very near to each other, that it is a difficult task to discriminate them with accuracy. We have little doubt that the Pancratium foliis amplis ovatis of Ehret (Trew’s Plantæ Selectæ, tab. 28.) belongs to our plant, notwithstanding the absence of the little teeth between the lobes of the nectary. Indeed, that character appears so variable in the synonyms commonly given to this species, that we are rather inclined to doubt of its constancy. Neither are the painters of those days always safely to be trusted in such minutiæ. Mr. Lambert, who favoured us with the specimen in March 1808, informs us that he received the bulbs from Lord Seaforth, on his return to England from the West Indies, from the Pancratium caribæum, cultivated in the same collection. It is certainly distinct; the blossoms are extremely fragrant, and we are not yet certain whether the amœnum and fragrans of botanists may not be the same species.