Eurycles cunninghamii

Perianthium hypocrateriforme, limbo sexpartito. Sta- mina faucialia, filamentis dilatatis coronam mentientibus utrinque unidentatis; antheræ versatiles. Ovarium 3-locu- lare; ovulis geminis collateralibus appensis. Capsula. Semina testâ carnosâ. Lindl. Radix tunicato-bulbosa. Scapus pedalis et infra, erectus, subteres. Folia plura, (2-5) petiolata, subrotunda, ovato- orbiculata, s. oblonga, brevi-acuminata, basi plus minus cor- data, concentrice nervoso-costata, fere Hemerocallidi japo- nicæ, læte viridia. Involucrum 2-3-phyllum. Umbella 4-12-flora. Flores tubulosi, hexandri, albi. Tubus sub- cylindricus. Filarnenta basi dilatata, complanatd, in tubum dentatum proximo contigua, adhuc plerumque distincta. Stylus erectus. Stigma simplex, raro divisum. Ovarii loculi bi-rarius tri-spermi. Semina bulbiformia. EURYCLES Cunninghamii; umbellâ 4-6-florâ, perianthii laciniis ovato-oblongis planis, erecto-patulis, staminum dentibus lateralibus subulatis, intermedio subæqua- libus. EURYCLES Cunninghamii. Ait. MSS. apud Hort. Reg. Kew. Loud. Hort. Brit. Suppl. p. 588. Lindl. in Bot. Reg. t. 1506.

---

It was, we believe, Mr. BROWN who first suggested, that PANCRATIUM amboinense of LINNÆUS, differed from the other species

species of the Genus, in the structure of the ovarium and corona-the cells of the former being furnished with two seeds, and the tube-like form of the latter, cut down nearly to its base, into almost six distinct segments. Two years afterwards, viz. in 1812, Mr. SALISBURY proposed, in a paper that appeared in the transactions of the Horticultural Society of London, to remove that Amboyna Lily, from its then co-ordinates, to a new Genus; to which, without any definition of character, he gave the title of EURYCLES * : - a Genus, (thus submitted for adoption by future botanical writers) at that time, limited to the solitary species; the CRINUM nervosum of L'HERITIER, who had probably relied upon the accuracy of the figure of RUMPH. (in the sixth volume of the Herbarium Amboinense), being considered by botanists identical with it. Since that period, however, two very distinct species, both natives of New South Wales, and of Mr. CUNNINGHAM'S discovery, have been added to the Genus. Of these, the one here figured was originally gathered in the year 1824 on the banks of the Brisbane River, at Moreton Bay; where it was observed growing in great abundance beneath the shade of the ARAUCARIÆ of the forests of that almost tro- pical region, and where, urged by the rains, which fall on that coast in the summer months, it frequently puts forth its flower-scape before the leaves appear. In botanical affinity, EURYCLES approaches nearest to CALOSTEMMA of Mr. BROWN, a Genus exclusively Australian, and now-rather a remarkable coincidence-also compris- ing three species; of which, one (C. album, an inhabitant of the north coast of that continent) has the elliptical nerved leaves, so characteristic of the individuals of the Genus of our present subject. DESCR. Bulbs nearly round, tunicated, about the size of a walnut, hazel-brown, with a palish-green apex. Leaves two to five, long-petioled, elliptical or oblong, acuminate, rather cordate at the base, smooth on both sides, strong- nerved; nerves curved and parallel. Scape erect, about a foot high, bearing an umbel of from four to six flowers, within an involucrum of two or three leaves, of unequal size and always shorter than the flowers themselves, when ex-

---

* Derived from ενρνσ, broad, and κλειω to close up: in reference to the dilated bases of the filaments, which may be said, partially to close up, the orifice of the tube of the flower.

panded. Flowers superior, tubular, peicellated, white; segments of the perianth ovate-oblong, or oblong-lanceo- late, rather plane, erect-patent, bluntish, somewhat shorter than the tube. Stamens six, inserted into the orifice of the tube, shorter than the limb of the perianth : filaments dilat- ed at the base, approaching closely, so as to appear in the form of a corona, with alternate sterile teeth, (occasionally bilobed) not quite the length of those bearing the anthers. Style erect, almost twice the length of the stamens, but somewhat shorter than the segments of the perianth. Stigma distinctly three-lobed. The following may serve as distinctive Characters of the species at present known; and to each is added, its botanical history. 1. E. sylvestris; (melius amboinensis,) umbellâ mutiflora, (circiter 10-12) perianthii laciniis spathulato-lanceolatis parum undulatis pa- tentibus, staminum dentibus lateralibus introrsum curvatis, itermedio tri- quadruplo brevioribus. NARCISSUS amboinensis, &c. Commel. Hort. v. 1. p. 77. t. 39. CÆPA sylvestris. Rumph. Amb . . 6. p. 160. t. 70. f. 1. PANCRATIUM amboinense. Linn. Willd. Sp. Pl. 2. p. 46. Blume Enumer. Pl. Jav. 1. p. 25. Spreng. Syst. Veget. 2. p. 46. Bot. Mag. t. 1419. Redouté Lil. t. 384. PANCRATIUM nervifolium. Salisb. Paradis. t. 84. CRINUM nervosum. L'Herit. Sert. Angl. p. 8. Persoon Syn. 1. p. 352. Willd. Sp. Pl. 2. p. 47. AMARYLLIS rotundifolia. Lamarck Encycl. 1. p. 124. PROIPHYS amboinensis. Herbert in Bot. Mag. App. (1821) p. 42. EURYCLES sylvestris. Salisb. in Hort. Soc. Lond. v. 1. p. 337. Schult. Syst. Veget. 7. p. 909. EURYCLES amboinensis. Loud. Encycl. Pl. p. 242. HAB. In insulâ Amboyna ad oras sylvarum. G. E. Rumph; atque in ins. Java, in sylvis vastis montium Panangounan, sub tegmine Tectonæ, abundè. 1793. J. J. Labillardiére. OBS. Flores triunciales et ultra. Tubus laciniis parum longior. Bases coronæformes staminum semisexfidæ. Stamina stylum æquan- tia, perianthio breviora. Stigma leviter subtrilobum. In the present day, rather a rare plant in our collections; although an old inhabitant of our gardens, having been cultivated at Chelsea by MILLER, who probably obtained it from Amsterdam, to which once celebrated Botanic Garden, it was introduced direct from Java, in the days of the COMMELINES, almost a century and a half since. 2. E. australis; (melius Kingii,) umbellâ suboctoflorâ, perianthii laciniis lineari-lanceolatis acutiusculis undulatis erecto-patentibus, sta- minum denticulis lateralibus acutis erectis, intermedio sexies breviori- bus. PANCRATIUM australasicum. Ker in Bot. Reg. t. 715.

PANCRATIUM australe. Spreng. Syst. Veget. 2. p. 47. EURYCLES australis. Schult. Syst. Veget. 7. p. 911. EURYCLES australasica. Loud. Encycl. Pl. p. 242. HAB. in Novæ Camb. Australis oræ æquinoctialis, insulâ depressâ calcariâ Cairncross, in grad. 11 lat. australis, ubi, in locis umbrosis prope littus, parcè crescit. 1820. Allan Cunningham. Visa mense Augusto, absque floribus; sed verosimiliter Decembri, Januario floret. Nunquam versus interiorem partem continentis australasicæ, lecta fuit, secundum KER. OBS. Nimis affinis E. sylvestri, sed prorsum minor. Flores vix tripollicares. Bases coronæform. staminum omnino sexpartitæ. Fila- menta perianthio breviora. Stigma simplex. Bulbs of this very rare species were received at Kew in 1821, to which garden alone, in Europe, were they sent from New South Wales. In the course of the following year they flowered in the stove; and the plant appearing soon afterwards in a nursery-garden where it also pro- duced flowers, a figure was published of it in the Botanical Register, where it was described, as a species closely allied to PANCRATIUM amboinense, but differing in having a corona " six-parted to the very bottom." As the plant, under the culture it met with, produced no ofsets from the roots, and was not to be propagated otherwise, it was at the fourth year after its introduction, lost to Britain-the bulbs which progressively decreased in size, becoming eventually dried up. Nor are they very likely to be reintroduced to our Collections, for the plant has not been found in any part of New South Wales, hitherto visited, as inaccurately stated in the work just referred to, but was observed sparingly, in the voyage of Captain P. P. KING, on the small, uninha- bited, sandy island above named, at which, there is no inducement for passing ships to touch, since it furnishes but little firewood, and no fresh water. 3. E. Cunninghamii; (supra tab. 3399.) HAB. in Novâ Cambriâ Australi: in sylvis densis subhumidis, ad ripas fluminis Brisbane, Moreton Bay, versus tropicum. 1824. Allan Cunningham. Floret Decembri, Januario. OBS. Præcedenti proxima; at flores umbellæ omnino minores et pauciores. Perianthium sesquiunciale. Stylus staminibus longior, atque perianthii ferè longitudine. Stigma trilobum. (Allan Cunningham.)