Vellozia
(called after a Portuguese naturalist named Velloz, who edited the works of Vandelli on Brazil).
SYN. Xerophyta. ORD. Amaryllideae. A genus comprising about fifty species of stove and greenhouse plants, with fibrous, woody, erect, sometimes arborescent stems, natives of tropical and South Africa, Madagascar, and Brazil. Flowers white, sulphur-coloured, violet, orange-red, or blue, often showy; perianth campanulate or funnel-shaped, with scarcely any tube, the segments equal and erecto-patent, ovate, oblong, or long-acuminate at base; stamens six, sometimes indefinite and collected in clusters; peduncles terminal, one-flowered. Leaves clustered at the tips of the branches, sometimes short, narrow, and straight, sometimes elongated, narrowly or broadly linear, rigid, often sharp. The best-known species are here described. They thrive in a compost of well-drained, sandy peat, and must not be over-watered. Propagation may be effected by seeds, or by suckers.
V. candida (white). fl., perianth pure white, very beautiful; stamens eighteen, in six bundles; peduncle elongated, above, as well as the ovary and perianth, scabrid-glandular. Summer. l. linear, grass-like, filiform-acuminate, rigidly keeled, remotely spinulose-serrated on the margins. Branches short, leafy at apex. Brazil, 1865. A very handsome, tufted, stove plant. (B. M. 5514.) V. elegans (elegant). fl., perianth pale lilac in bud, then pure white, 1 1/4in. across, the segments spreading; peduncle terminal, sheathed at base, divided into three to five slender pedicels 2in. to 6in. long. May. l. tristichous, recurved, 4in. to 8in. long, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, sharply keeled, serrated towards the apex. Stem rigid, flexuous, 6in. high. Natal, 1866. Green-house. (B. M. 5803.) SYN. Talbotia elegans. V. retinervis (net-veined). fl., perianth blue, 1 1/2in. in diameter, the segments 1 1/4in. to 1 1/2in. long, three to four lines broad, naked outside; anthers 1/2in. long, nearly sessile; peduncles dark-coloured above, with a few bristles below the oblong ovary, which is densely clothed with ascending, brown bristles. l. long-linear, recurved, rigid, glabrous. Trunk 12ft. high, crowned with a tuft of leaves. Natal and Transvaal, 1877. Greenhouse. See Fig. 154. SYN. Xerophyta retinervis (G. C. n. s., vi., p. 837; R. G. 903). V. squamata (scaly). fl., perianth of a fine orange-red, the tube slightly enlarged upwards, the segments moderately spreading; scape longer than the leaves. Summer. l. terminal, 4in. to 6in. long, spreading, glaucous, linear, acuminate, keeled. Stem short, dichotomous, clothed with the scale-like remains of fallen leaves. Organ Mountains, 1841. Stove. SYN. Barbacenia squamata (B. M. 4136; P. M. B. xi. 75).
