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Kniphofia (Johann Hieronymus Kniphof, 1704- 1765, professor at Erfurt). Syn, Tritoma. Liliaceae. Torch-lily. Red-hot-poker Plant. Flame-flower. Excellent showy perennial herbs grown in the open (some species under glass), with spikes or racemes of long, drooping red and yellow (rarely white) flowers.
Herbs with abundant radical lvs. and stout, simple naked scapes or peduncles, the thick roots from a short vertical rootstock, mostly stemless but a few species with a short caudex below the crown of lvs.: fls. many, in a spike-like raceme or dense head-like spike, on short articulated pedicels; perianth funnel- shaped or cylindrical, the tube long and the nearly or quite equal segms. small and mostly broad; stamens 6, in two lengths, equaling or exceeding the perianth; ovary 3-celled, bearing a filiform style and capitate stigma: fr. a short 3-valved caps.-Species probably 70, in Trop. and S. Afr. in the tropical regions mostly from high elevations. The genus is rich in good native forms, many of which are scarcely known in general cult., and it is to be expected that important horticultural developments will arise in the future. Accounts of the species described to those dates will be found in Flora Capensis (1896-7) and Flora Tropical Africa (1898) in the treatments by Baker, from which the present descriptions have been largely drawn. These descriptions are made mostly from wild plants and therefore may not apply to garden forms, which are very likely to be hybrids.
The kniphofias are among the most showy of border plants. They are essentially autumn bloomers, but some of the newer kinds are nearly continuous bloomers from midsummer. The common kinds are hardy south of Philadelphia when well covered in winter, but in the North it is usually safer to dig up the plants in November, place them in boxes with dry earth, and store them in a cellar in winter. In spring place them in a warm, sheltered, well-drained spot, perhaps with a background of shrubbery to set off the flowers. Some of the recent species from tropical Africa are treated as greenhouse or warmhouse subjects. In general cultivation the prevailing species is K. uvaria. This is nearly hardy North, has sword-shaped leaves 2 to 3 feet long, and several scapes 4 or 5 feet high surmounted by a spike 4 to 8 inches long composed of perhaps 100 tubular, drooping flowers, each 1 inch or more long, and fiery red. It has perhaps a dozen varieties with Latin names and twice as many with personal names. Most other species have much the same general effect, and recent variations and apparent hybrids have greatly extended the blooming season and the range of color and form. For producing mass- effects, the torch-lilies are among the most striking subjects, the brilliant flowers producing a flame of color. Clumps in open sunny places are particularly emphatic.
The miniature-flowered torch-lilies are excellent for planting in small beds and near the front borders and also for cutting. They begin to bloom as early as June. The plants are mostly small, the racemes not so massive, and the flowers small and short. It is probable that such species as K. nelsonii, K. pauciflora, K. rufa, K. breviflora have entered into them.
Under cultivation, the kniphofias appear to hybridize very freely through the agency of bees, and seedlings therefore may not be true to the parent from which they came. The result is that there is much confusion in the literature of the genus, and it is often very difficult to trace the original species-forms.
They grow readily from seeds, and novel forms are likely to be secured from the mixed garden parentage. The plants should bloom freely the second year, and often the first year. The usual method of propagation is by division; the caulescent kinds, however, may not produce offsets or divisible parts readily unless they are headed back or cut off to make them spread. Kniphofias are of ten classed by dealers as bulbous plants, though they have only a short rhizome and numerous, clustered, thickish root-fibers. Old but vigorous plants of the K. uvaria kind divide easily, and give large strong pieces.
Index.
alooides, 3.
aurea, 18.
breviflora, 16.
burchellii. 5.
carnosa, 3.
caulescens, 1.
citrina, 23.
comosa, 17.
corallina, 11.
floribunda, 3.
foliosa. 27.
glauca, 3.
glaucescens, 3.
gracilis, 22.
grandiflora, 3.
grandis, 3.
kewensis, 10.
leichtlinii, 18.
longicollis, 6.
longiflora, 13.
macowanii, 11.
maroccana, 11.
maxima, 3.
media, 11.
modesta, 14.
multiflora, 19.
natalensis, 12.
nelsonii, 10.
nobilis, 3.
northiae, 2.
pauciflora, 20.
{list.
pfitzeri, 3;also suppl.
praecox, 3.
primulina, 8.
pumila, 21.
quartiniana, 27.
refulgens, 3.
rigidissima, 11.
rooperi, 4.
rufa, 24.
sarmentosa, 7.
saundersii, 3.
serotina, 3.
sparsa, 15.
triangularis, 9.
tuckii, 25.
tysonii, 26.
uvaria, 3.
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