Nerine Frithii, L. Bolus in Ann. Bolus Herb. vol. iii. p. 79.
It is the first occasion that we figure a species of one of the most beautiful of South African genera, namely Nerine. N. sarniensis, known as the “Guernsey Lily,� and to mountaineers in the Cape as the “Nerina,� ranks with Disa uniflora as one of the floral beauties of Table Mountain. The species illustrated, while it does not equal its Cape congener in the size of its flowers, is a charming little plant when seen growing. It differs from the closely allied genus Hessea (see Plate 43) in having dorsifixed instead of basifixed anthers, and belongs to a small group of species in the genus Nerine which have the anthers appendiculate at the base. The species has been successfully grown in the National Botanic Gardens at Kirstenbosch, near Cape Town, and was described by Mrs. L. Bolus from specimens which flowered at Kirstenbosch. Our plate was prepared from specimens which flowered at the Division of Botany, Pretoria. The plant figured differs from the description in not having two of the lobes of the staminal cup longer than the others, but Mrs. Bolus, who kindly examined our specimens, agrees that it is N. Frithii.
Description:—Bulb 2 cm. long, 1·7 cm. in diameter, ovoid-globose. Leaves present with the flowers, very often only two, up to 15 cm. long, 1 to 1·5 mm. broad, subfiliform, channelled above. Inflorescence an umbel of 5 to 7 flowers. Peduncle up to 20 cm. long, terete. Spathe-valves 2·5 to 3 cm. long, oblong, long-attenuate. Pedicels up to 3 cm. long. Floral-bracts 1 to 1·5 cm. long, thread-like, membranous. Perianth-segments spreading, at length recurved,[{52}] 1.5 cm. long, 4 mm. broad, linear, acute, with undulate margins. Stamens declinate; filaments 0.35 to 6 mm. long, appendiculate at the base forming a cup 3 cm. long, somewhat lacerated above, with two lobes usually much exceeding the others; anthers 4 mm. long. Ovary obovate, with 2 ovules in each loculus. Capsule globose, 8 mm. in diameter. (National Herb. Pretoria, No. 2746.)
Plate 132.—Fig. 1, median longitudinal section of flower; Fig. 2, cross section of leaf; Fig. 3, a single perianth-segment; Fig. 4, a stamen, showing position of appendage at the base; Fig. 5, anther; Fig. 6, fruit, showing cup formed of staminal appendages; Fig. 7, tip of style; Fig. 8, fruit.
F.P.S.A., 1924.