Liliaceae. Tribe Scilleae.
Veltheimia, Gled.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 811.
Veltheimia Roodeae, Phillips, sp. nov., a V. glauca, Jacq. foliis ovatis
acuminatis et marginibus undulatis differt.
Bulbus 13 cm. longus, 6 cm. latus. Folia 12-15 cm. longa, basi 4-5 cm. lata, ovata, acuminata, apice acuta, marginibus undulatis, glabra. Pedunculus 12-15 cm. longus, 6 mm. latus. Inflorescentia 3·5 cm. longa. Bracteae 1 cm. longae. Pedicellus 1·5 mm. longus. Tubus perianthii 2·2 cm. longus, cylindricus, basi paullo globosus; lobi 1·5 mm. longi, 1·5 mm. lati, ovati, apice obtusi. Filamenta 1 cm. longa; antherae 2·25 mm. longae, oblongae. Ovarium 1 cm. longum, 2·5 mm. latum, sulcatum; stylus 1 cm. longus; stigma simplex.
As we find it impossible to place this plant into any of the known species of the genus, we have decided to publish a description of it under the name of V. Roodeae, in honour of Mrs. R. Rood of Van Rhynsdorp, to whom our readers are greatly indebted for so many of the rare plants we have previously figured. It differs in the shape of the leaves from any of the species described in the Flora Capensis. They are distinctly undulate.
Veltheimia is a small genus of 3 species, none of which appears to have been extensively gathered by recent botanical collectors. The first known species, V. viridifolia, was described by Linneaus (as Aletris capensis) in 1751, and was introduced into European cultivation in 1768, so that a species of the genus was known to botanical science over 150 years ago.
V. viridifolia, Jacq., does quite well under cultivation, but we have not yet had an opportunity of growing the species here described.[{28}]
Description:—Bulb 13 cm. long, 6 cm. in diameter, ellipsoid, covered with membranous tunics, at the base with a disc-shaped rootstock 6 cm. in diameter, 2·5 cm. thick, from which the roots arise. Leaves 11 to a bulb, 12-15 cm. long, 4·5 cm. broad near the base, ovate, acuminate, acute, clasping at the base, with undulate margins and a broad thick midrib beneath slightly raised, green and glaucous above, densely reddish-spotted beneath, glabrous. Peduncle as long as the leaves, 6 mm. in diameter, terete, reddish by being covered with close-set reddish spots. Inflorescence 3·5 cm. long. Bracts 1 cm. long, almost filiform. Pedicels 1·5 mm. long. Flowers somewhat reflexed; perianth-tube 2·2 cm. long, 4 mm. in diameter, cylindric, faintly globose and bent about the middle, white with reddish spots; lobes 1·5 mm. long, 1·5 mm. broad, ovate, obtuse. Stamens fixed to the middle of the perianth-tube; filaments 1 cm. long; anthers 2·25 mm. long, oblong. Ovary 1 cm. long, 2·5 mm. in diameter, in the middle spindle-shaped, furrowed; style 1 cm. long, terete; stigma simple (National Herb. 2739).