1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Eucharis

EUCHARIS, in botany, a genus of the natural order Amaryllidaceae, containing a few species, natives of Columbia. Eucharis amazonica or grandiflora is the best-known and most generally cultivated species. It is a bulbous plant with broad stalked leaves, and an erect scape 11/2 to 2 ft. long, bearing an umbel of three to ten large white showy flowers. The flowers resemble the daffodil in having a prominent central cup or corona, which is sometimes tinged with green. It is propagated by removing the offsets, which may be done in spring, potting them singly in 6-in. pots. It requires good loamy soil, with sand enough to keep the compost open, and should have a good supply of water and a temperature of 65° to 70° during the night, with a rise of 8° or 10° in the day. During summer growth is to be encouraged by repotting, but the plants should afterwards be slightly rested by removal to a night temperature of about 60°, water being withheld for a time, though they must not go too long dry, the plant being an evergreen. By the turn of the year they may again have more heat and more water, and this will probably induce them to flower. After this is over they may be shifted and grown again as before; and, as they get large, either be divided to form new plants or allowed to develop into nobler specimens. With a stock of the smaller plants to start them in succession, they may be had in flower all the year round. A few years ago the bulbs of E. amazonica were badly inflicted with a disease known as the Eucharis mite, and all kinds of remedies were tried without avail, although steeping in Condy’s fluid appeared to give the best results. The disease appears to have died out again. Other species of Eucharis now met with in gardens are E. Bakeriana, E. Mastersii, E. Lowii and E. Sanderii. A remarkable hybrid was raised a few years ago between Eucharis and the allied genus Urceolina, to which the compound name Urceocharis was given.