Raoul, Choix, 41; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 286. P. Forsterianum, Col. in Hook. Land. Journ. Bot. iii. (1844) 8. P. Hookeri, Gunn in Bot. Mag. t. 6973.
North and South Islands: Not uncommon from the North Cape to Foveaux Strait. Sea-level to 4000 ft. Wharariki. November–January.
The small size, pale colour, yellowish flowers, and long twisted capsules distinguish this from P. tenax; but it is in some respects an ill-defined species, including several forms respecting which additional information is required. One of these, figured in the "Botanical Magazine" under the name of P. Hookeri, is remarkable for its flaccid much recurved leaves with long fissured tips, Sir J. D. Hooker considers that it is more different from P. tenax and P. Cookianum than they are from one another; but his plate shows the floral characters to be very similar to those of P. Cookianum.
7. BULBINELLA, Kunth.
Perennial herbs. Rootstock short, stout, with numerous fleshy almost tuberous roots. Leaves all radical, numerous, linear, sheathing at the base, often fleshy. Scape simple or very rarely branched, naked, terminating in a dense many-flowered raceme. Flowers rather small, yellow or white. Perianth marcescent, 6-partite; segments subequal, distinct or slightly connate at the base, 1-nerved. Stamens 6, hypogynous or adnate to the base of the segments; filaments subulate-filiform; anthers versatile. Ovary subglobose, 3-celled; style filiform; stigma small, capitate, obscurely 3-lobed; ovules 2 in each cell. Capsule broadly ovoid or subglobose, membranous, 3-celled, loculicidally 3-valved. Seeds few, often compressed and triquetrous; testa black.
About 14 species are known, all confined to South Africa with the exception of the two described herein.
| Very stout. Leaves often 2 in. broad; scape 2–3 ft. high. Flowers diœcious | 1. B. Rossii. |
| More slender. Leaves ⅙–¾ in. broad; scape 1–2 ft. high. Flowers hermaphrodite | 2. B. Hookeri. |
1. B. Rossii, Benth. and Hook. f. Gen. Plant. iii. 784.—A stout perennial herb 9 in. to 3 ft. high; stems sometimes 1½ in. diam. at the base. Leaves numerous, all radical, outer spreading or recurved, inner ascending, 6 in. to 2 ft. long, ½–2 in. broad, broadly ensiform, obtuse or subacute, fleshy, glabrous, concave above, finely-striate. Scape stout, erect, terete, ¼–⅓ in. diam. Raceme very stout and dense, 3–6 in. long, 1–2½ in. diam. Flowers numerous, very densely crowded, bright-yellow, polygamo-diœcious, ⅓ in. diam.; pedicels slender, erect, ½–¾ in. long; bracts lanceolate. Perianth-segments linear-oblong or oblong-ovate, obtuse, spreading in the male flowers, more erect in the female. Stamens of the male flowers shorter than the segments; filaments subulate, terete, glabrous; anthers oblong. Ovary of the females broadly ovoid; style short, stout; stigma small, obscurely lobed. Capsule ¼–⅓ in.
