Symphyostemon
(from symphyo, to unite, and stemon, a stamen; the filaments are connate at base, in a cylindrical tube). SYNS. Psithyrisma, Susarium. ORD. Irideoe. A small genus (two or three species) of greenhouse or half-hardy plants, with fibrous roots, natives of extra-tropical South America or the Andes. Flowers several in a spathe, pedicellate; perianth yellow, whitish, or purple-striped, the tube rather long, funnel-shaped, the lobes sub-equal and erecto-patent; stamens affixed to the throat; scape sometimes very short, sometimes very tall and leafless, or with one floral leaf. Leaves radical, linear, clustered. S. narcissoides, the only species introduced, thrives in a compost of sandy loam and leaf mould. Propagation may be effected by seeds, or by offsets, in spring.
S. narcissoides (Narcissus-like). fl dirty-white, veined with brownish-purple, very fragrant, nodding, on short stalks, funnel-shaped; spathe consisting of bracts, membranous at the margin, of which the lowermost is sharper than the others. June. l. very narrow, glaucous, subulate at apex. Stem 1ft. to 1 1/2ft. high. South coasts of South America, 1828. SYN. Sisyrinchium odoratissimum (B. R. 1283).