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Lachenalia, or Cape Cowslip
Lachenalia luteola.
CAPE COWSLIPS are children of the great family of lilies, or, to put the matter in less familiar terms, they are members of the hyacinth and scilla section of the order Liliaceae. They are bulbous plants, of somewhat fleshy texture, making large, thick leaves, which are often handsomely spotted, and a head of flowers that are tubular, pendent, apparently furnished with a calyx. These resemble hyacinths sufficiently to justify the association in the minds of those who have not studied the details of structure that determine the classification. But even in the view of the unlearned a lachenalia is somewhat of a curiosity, and the question may properly arise, What is the meaning of the apparent calyx? for a lily and the relation of a lily should have no such thing. The answer may prove of some interest to the reader. A lily, and every relation of a lily, should have a flower of six parts, which may be divided to the base, or only cleft into six lobes. Now, in many instances three of these are so placed as to be within or without the other three. In the flower of any true lily it may be seen without the aid of a botanist that the divisions of the flower are in two sets of three each; they are usually of equally length, but one set of three is distinctly placed within, and the other set without the general compass of the flower. We may speak of the outer divisions as forming the calyx, and the inner as forming the corolla. But we do not use such terms; the flower of a lily is called the perianth, and the six divisions are only distinguished as inner and outer segments.
The Cape cowslips were introduced from the Cape of Good Hope about the year 1774. The well-known Lachenalia tricolor was the first of the throng, and in the opinion of the present writer is the best even now. It was figured in the Botanical Magazine in the year 1790 (t. 82).
It is interesting to trace the history of the nomenclature of the flower. Jacquin described it as Lachenalia, in honour of Warnerus de la Chenal, a Swiss botanist, and the name remains to this day. But Linnaeus described it as Phormium aloides, and it has also been named Hyacinthus orchioides. The generic term Phormium is now applied to the great New Zealand flax, and there is no more occasion for a change.
The beautiful flower before us is a variety of Lachenalia tricolor; of that there can be no doubt whatever. It was introduced at the same time as tricolor, and for a time was regarded as a separate species. It differs from the other both in form and colour, the longest segments of the perianth being broader and more expanded, and the shorter segments being more acutely cut. In tricolor we have a lovely blending of fiery red, orange, and green, with gleams of creamy white; in luteola we have a self-colouring, or say uniform colouring, of yellow buff or tawny orange, the short segments having small green spots on their points or apices.
The cultivation of lachenalias may be stated in a few words. They are strictly greenhouse plants, and it is therefore improper to plant them in the open ground. They are grown in pots, those of smallish size being preferable--say five to seven inches diameter. If grown in large pans for any particular purpose, the vessels should be shallow--say five to seven inches deep at the utmost. It is not necessary to put much drainage material in the pots--one good hollow crock, say a neat little convex oyster-shell, placed hollow side downwards, answering admirably to afford escape for superfluous water. The soil should be sandy loam and leaf-mould; it matters not about the exact proportions, provided the loam predominates. In place of leaf-mould very rotten and quite clean soil from an old melon or cucumber-bed may be used; but a rich, heavy soil is not suitable. Put the bulbs rather close together in the pots--say a dozen in a six-inch pot--and cover them with just enough fine soil to hide them. Being potted in the summer or autumn, they should be kept in a frame and have but little water, until the leaves appear and indicate that they would like to grow. Now an important point in the cultivation consists in placing them in pans of water from the time the leaves have attained the length of two inches or so, and certainly not before. If the water is only a tenth of an inch deep it will suffice; but if an inch deep in the morning it will be all gone by the next morning, and another inch may be supplied. The object is to keep the roots in full activity, and yet to avoid treating the plants as aquatics, for to be deeply immersed would be deadly to them. The result of this treatment will be a growth of large, thick, glossy, richly-coloured leaves, and a show of flowers far finer every way than can be obtained by the system of cultivation that commonly prevails. We have always so treated our exhibition lachenalias, and have never withheld from such as desired the information a disclosure of the secret of success. As regards temperature, that of an ordinary greenhouse is all-sufficient. These plants will endure without serious harm a temperature as low as 35 degree, and one as high as 90 degree. But such extremes are to be avoided, and the proper temperature for them is 45 degree to 60 degree, with as much air as weather will permit, and full exposure to the light.