Paradisea or Anthericum

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Mon, 12 Jul 2004 19:41:07 PDT
Mary Sue's pictures of Paradisea lusitanica at Wisley look like the plants 
I have growing here under that name. Note that the flowers of Paradisea are 
funnel-shaped, and those of Anthericum open almost flat. My plants have 
been in the garden for 3 years and flowered in their fourth year from 
sowing the seeds. The stems were up to 40 inches (1 m) tall. The plants 
have not experienced temperatures below 18 degrees F yet.

The name Paradisea liliastrum has the -um ending because it is nominal (a 
noun) even though it is used as a species epithet, and those are usually 
adjectives. Adjectives agree with their head nouns in grammatical gender, 
but nouns each go their own way.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA



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