In the Botanical Magazine it was an Amaryllis for a period of about thirty-five years. Then it became a Hippeastrum for a period of forty-five years. But in describing a splendid species, discovered in Peru by Messrs. Veitch and Sons' collector, Mr. Pearce, in June, 1867, Sir J. D. Hooker named it Amaryllis pardina. Having done so, he felt bound to justify the proceeding, and he did so by saying that the differences recognized by Herbert were so slight and variable as to be of no practical value. Therefore the original generic designation was restored; Linnaeus triumphed, and Amaryllis is herself again. The introduction of A. pardina opens a new chapter in the history of this flower. Its name implies that it is spotted like the leopard, but that quality is not much valued by the florists. It is of more importance to say that this flower is distinguished by great breadth of petal and the absence of a funnel, a fact favorable to the expansion of the flowers to a symmetrical face. More than any of its race introduced up to the year 1867, A. pardina stirred the blood of florists and gave new zest to the labors of the hybridists, who, however, soon discovered that, with all its fine qualities, it is not the model for breeding from that they would themselves have created had they been permitted to assist in the work of the third day as recorded in the Book of Genesis. But the model was ready for all that; like many other desirable things, it was made with the rest on the third day and remained to be discovered.

This was secured in Peru by Mr. Pearce. It appears that the King of the Belgians, one of the most generous and enlightened patrons of horticulture in this flowery world, admired the flower when it was shown at South Kensington in the year 1869, and it was named in honor of his visit Amaryllis Leopoldi. It is as truly the king of the Amaryllises as Lilium auratum is the queen of Lilies. It possesses all the elements of a perfect florist's flower in breadth of petal, depth of color, a sharply defined star, and petals superbly tipped with white or an approximation thereto. It is sufficiently defective as a florists flower to afford work for the hybridist, and excitement to the critics, and to give peculiar interest to the splendid series of varieties that, chiefly by its aid, have been raised by Messrs. Veitch & Sons, of Chelsea. The hybrids figured in the year 1865 in Van Houtte's "Flore des Serres" were, in a way, wonders of their time, but we have got far beyond the flowers with funnels and indefinite green stains, and look for expanded flowers of the most perfect symmetry both of form and color, and with novel markings to give the charm of variety to collections. - Garden.