ial, stringy, somewhat like that of the tawny Day-lily
(Hemerocallis fulva); strings the thickness of the little finger,
blunt at the extremity, extending horizontally, if not confined,
to the distance of many feet.
LEAVES numerous, standing upright on their footstalks, about a foot in
length, and four inches in breadth, ovato-oblong, coriaceous,
somewhat fleshy, rigid, smooth, concave, entire on the edges,
except on one side towards the base, where they are more or less
curled, on the upper side of a deep green colour, on the under
side covered with a fine glaucous meal, midrib hollow above and
yellowish, veins unbranched, prominent on the inside, and
impressed on the outside of the leaf, young leaves rolled up.
LEAF-STALKS about thrice the length of the leaves, upright, somewhat
flattened, at bottom furnished with a sheath, and received into
each other, all radical.
SCAPUS or flowering stem unbranched, somewhat taller than the leaves,
proceeding from the sheath of one of them, upright, round, not
perfectly straight, nearly of an equal thickness throughout, of a
glaucous hue, covered with four or five sheaths which closely
embrace it. Two or more flowering stems spring from the same root,
according to the age of the plant.
SPATHA terminal, about six inches in length, of a glaucous hue, with a
fine bright purple at its base, running out to a long point,
opening above from the base to within about an inch of the apex,
where the edges roll over to one side, forming an angle of about
forty-five degrees, and containing about six flowers.
FLOWERS of a bright orange colour, becoming upright, when perfectly
detached from the spatha, which each flower is a considerable time
in accomplishing. In the plant at Chelsea, the two back petals,
or, more properly segments of the first flower, sprang forth with
the nectary, and while the former became immediately vertical, the
latter formed nearly the same angle as the spatha; four days
afterwards the remaining segment of the first flower, with the two
segments and nectary of the second came forth, and in the same
manner at similar intervals all the flowers, which were six in
number, continued to make their appearance.
COROLLA deeply divided into three segments, which are ovato-lanceolate,
sli
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