Nerine

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Nerine >

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Read about Nerine in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Nerine (a nereid of Greek mythology)- Amaryllidaceae. Handsome autumn-flowering bulbs from South Africa. Bulb tunicated, mostly without a neck: lvs. appearing after the fls. or with them, usually strap-shaped: fls. in shades of red and pink (varying to white), in few- or many-fld. umbels on a slender or robust scape; spathe- valves beneath the umbel 2, lanceolate; perianth funnel- form, very deeply cut or divided, erect or somewhat decurved, the 6 segms. equal, narrow and more or less crisped or undulate; stamens 6, usually unequal, declined or nearly erect, bearing versatile anthers; style long and slender, straight or somewhat declined: fr. a globose 3-lobed and 3-valved caps., with seeds 1 or few in each cell.—Species 15-18, in Afr. from the Transvaal and Kalahari south to Cape of Good Hope. Monographed by Baker, Flora Capensis, vi (1896-7), from which the following descriptive account is mostly drawn. Nerine is a remarkable genus of tender bulbous plants, of which the commonest species is N. sarniensis, long known as the Guernsey lily from the island where these bulbs are grown to perfection. The winter is their growing season instead of flowering time. They belong to the very small class of autumn-blooming bulbs. The common kinds flower from September to November without any foliage and the leaves are developed all winter. About May the leaves die down and the bulbs rest from May to August. The leaves appear after the flowers in two or three species, but with the flowers in the others. The flowers range from scarlet through salmon and pink shades to white, and are borne in umbels of four to twenty flowers, on scapes varying from 1 to 3 feet long and averaging 1 ½ feet. A trade name is Nerine japonica, which is really a Lycoris; it has black seeds, while all the true nerinea have green seeds. It has, however, the autumn-blooming habit and flowers of the same general appearance as the true nerines. The nerines have two distinct types of beauty, illustrated by Figs. 2474 and 2475. The kinds with the narrow perianth-segments, which are crisped or fluted, have a spidery look and are not so popular as the kinds with broad, flat segments, which make a showier cluster of flowers. The segments vary from 1/12 to ½ inch in width. The showiest kinds are hybrids or varieties of N. sarniensis and N. curvifolia, the former species being the most prolific of varieties. In these two species the strong vertical lines of the erect long-protruded stamens make a striking feature. The flowers of the other species have more of a drooping tendency and the stamens are shorter and declinate, as in Fig. 2475. N. pudica is perhaps the choicest white- flowered kind. Nerines have bulbs 1 to 2 inches or less in diameter, and about six leaves, varying from 8 to 18 inches in length and 4 to 9 lines in width. Among the uncultivated kinds are some with short stout scapes and others with appendages at the base of the filaments. Nerine is closely related to Brunsvigia, being separated technically on the character of the capsule which is globose and obtusely angled in Nerine as distinguished from turbinate and acutely angled in the other. This distinction, however, seems not always to hold clearly. To the gardener, the differences are largely in relative size, Brunsvigia having larger bulbs, more numerous mostly larger flowers and commonly broader leaves. The nerines are treated mostly as greenhouse plants. When well established in pots, they bloom year after year. In winter, the foliage is grown, and in spring water is gradually withheld until the bulbs are well ripened, when they remain dormant until August. John Robertson, in "Florists' Review" 1:675, gives advice as follows: the secret of success with nerines is to secure the fullest possible development of the bulbs. This refers to their winter treatment. They enjoy abundance of water at the root and overhead, with occasional applications of liquid manure. This treatment should never cease until the leaves turn yellow, which is a sign that the plants are finishing their growth. Then diminish the water-supply gradually, lay the pots on their sides where they are not likely to get wet, and in full sunlight, so that the bulbs may ripen thoroughly. The plants should not have then- roots disturbed, nor do they require much root room: they grow and flower best when hard pot-bound. Three bulbs planted in good fibrous loam with a little sand may remain in a 5-inch pot for five or six years, or even longer, as the offsets can be rubbed off and separately potted while the parent bulbs go on increasing in size. Each year as the flower-scape appears pick off about an inch of the surface soil with a sharp-pointed stick, and give the ball of roots a good soaking and a slight top-dressing. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

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