Tuberose

TUBEROSE. The cultivated tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa) is a plant allied to the Mexican agaves, and is a native of the same country. The tuberous root-stock sends up a stem 3 ft. in height, with numerous lanceolate leaves and terminal racemes of waxy white funnel-shaped very fragrant flowers. Each flower is about 1 1 in. long, with a long tube and a six-parted limb. The stamens are six in number, emerging from the upper part of the tube, and bear linear anthers. The ovary is threecelled, and the ovoid fruit is crowned by the persistent flower. The plant is largely grown in the United States and at the Cape of Good Hope for export to England, as it is found that imported bulbs succeed better than those grown in the United Kingdom. The double-flowered form is that principally grown. Cultivated plants require a rich soil, considerable heat, and, at first, abundance of water.