Wurmbea
(named in honour of F. van Wurmb, Secretary to the Academy of Sciences at Batavia). ORD. Liliaceae. A genus consisting of seven species of green-house plants, with tunicated bulbs or corms, natives of South Africa and Australia. Flowers ebracteate, subsessile, in a short, terminal, pedunculate spike; perianth sub-campanulate or expanded nearly from the base, persistent, the lobes longer than the tube, sub-equal, spreading; stamens six. Leaves few, linear-or rarely ovate-lanceolate, continuous with the sheaths. P. campanulata and its varieties, the only plants calling for description here, are pretty subjects when in flower. They thrive in a compost of sandy peat and a little loam. Propagation may be easily effected by seeds, or by offsets. W. campanulata (bell-shaped). fl., perianth pallid, 4in. to 6in. long, the tube campanulate, the segments lanceolate, acute, black-glandular above the base; spikes 1in. to 3in. long, loose-or dense-flowered. May and June. l. three or four, firm; lower ones linear, 3in. to 9in. long; upper ones lanceolate, dialted at base, embracing the stem. Bulb ovoid; tunic brown. h. 6in. to 12in. South Africa, 1819. SYN. Melanthium monopetalum (B. M. 1291). W. purpurea (A. B. R. 221; B. M. 694) is regarded, by Baker, as a form of this species; it has a lurid-purple perianth, the segments equalling or exceeding the campanulate tube.
W. c. longiflora (long-flowered). fl., perianth pale, 1/2in. to 3/4in. long, the segments equalling or shorter than the cylindrical tube. 1788. A robust variety. W. pumila is a dwarf form of this, with three or four flowers in a spike, and linear leaves.
W. pumila (dwarf). A form of W. campanulata longiflora. W. purpurea (purple). A form of W. campanulata.