Who Has Amaryllis Treatae?

In looking over the numbers of Harpers Monthly for 1877, I chanced upon what seemed to be Mrs. Treat's original description of the Amaryllis that bears her name. After describing her manner of exploring secluded nooks along the banks of streams, and mentioning several plants observed, she says:

"But my delight culminated in finding a beautiful Amaryllis lily growing amid the dense thicket in the soft, mucky soil along the banks of the stream. The leaf is much broader and longer than the old form of Amaryllis Atamasco, L. and the flower finer and larger, and blooms some two months earlier. Some of the largest leaves measure two feet in length, and the largest flowers five inches across, and five inches in length. It commences to bloom in January, and continues in flower till March. It bears transplanting to common garden soil, where it does not depreciate in size of leaf or flower.

" Last year I sent some three hundred bulbs to the Botanic garden at Harvard to have it tested, and the director writes me under date of February 2, 1877: 'Your Atamasco lily is a splendid thing, much finer than the old form, and is now charmingly in flower, and very beautiful.'"

It will be seen at once that this description differs from that given in the June number of Gardeners' Monthly, and from that of the dealers who offer the bulbs for sale, especially as to the rush-like leaves. I enclose an illustra-tion that differs also from that which appears in the florists' catalogues. The flower stem is short, rising only as high as the curve of the long, strong-growing leaves, and the flower differs in shape; the lower part seeming almost cylindrical, the upper spreading quite abruptly.

My limited personal knowledge is this: I have grown the pink Atamasco many years, and flowered bulbs of Amaryllis Treatae received from an eastern dealer, three years, the flowers differing from the pink in no point excepting color. The foliage being scanty and small as shown in catalogues.

[Mrs. Briggs does well by calling attention to this plant, for we ourselves begin to feel confused as to the differences; and it may lead to a better diagnosis by some botanist more familiar with the plants. We append herewith all that is said of each in the last edition of Flora of the Southern States. One certainly cannot tell from these descriptions which is which, and in several points Chapman's description is actually discordant with Mrs. Treat's account of the plant.

Amaryllis (Zephyranthes) Treatae, Watson

Bulb small, leaves very narrow (a line to a line and a half wide), thick, semi-terete with rounded margins, not shining; scape four to twelve inches high; flowers three inches long, white, the segments rather obtuse; capsule broader than long, its peduncle three to nine lines long. Low ground, east Florida, (Mrs. Mary Treat,) April and May.

Amaryllis Atamasco, L. (Atamascolily)

Scape terete, somewhat lateral, one flowered; leaves linear, concave, fleshy; spathe one leaved, two-cleft; perianth short stalked, bell-shaped, while tinged with purple; style longer than the stamens; seeds angled. Rich damp soil; Florida, and northward; March and April. Scape six to twelve inches high, commonly shorter than the glossy leaves. Flower two to three inches long." - Ed. G. M].