Peliosanthes
(from pelios, livid, and anthos, a flower; alluding to the colour of the flowers of some species). SYNS. Bulbospermum, Teta. ORD. Haemodoraceae. A genus comprising about eight species of stove, perennial herbs, with short, horizontal rhizomes, natives of the East Indies and the Malayan Archipelago. Flowers greenish or lurid violet, rather small, disposed in simple spikes or racemes, furnished with scarious bracts; perianth tube short above the ovary, broadly campanulate; limb rotate-spreading, of six broad, obtuse, sub-equal lobes; stamens six. Leaves radical, longstalked, lanceolate or rather broad, acuminate at both ends, with elevated, sub-plicate veins; petioles sheathing at base. The species require a compost of loam, peat, and sand; they may be freely increased by suckers. The only two introduced to cultivation are described below.
P. humilis (humble). fl. greenish, in a rather dense raceme, 2in. to 6in. long; perianth segments thrice as long as the tube; scape 2in. to 6in. long. May. l. four to eight in a rosette, lanceolate, 3in. to 6in. long, 1in. to 2in. broad; petioles 6in. to 9in. long. Eastern Himalayas, 1809. (A. B. R. 634; B. M. 1532.) P. Teta (Teta). fl. greenish, in a loose raceme, 6in. to 9in. long; scape 4in. to 6in. long. April. l. two to seven in a rosette, chartaceous, oblanceolate, nearly 1ft. long, 1 1/2in. to 2 1/4in. broad; petioles 6in. to 8in. long. Eastern Himalayas, 1807. (A. B. R. 605; B. M. 1302.)