Tritoma

Tritoma (Flame Flower), a genus of tufted herbaceous plants belonging to the natural order Liliaceae. The leaves are all radical, long, narrow linear; the flowers are scarlet and yellow, very showy, densely racemose or spicate, the spikes in some species being ovoid, supported at the summit of a stout leafless scape. The perianth is tubular, six-parted, usually more or less depressed. The genus is best known in gardens by the name here given, but bears many synonyms, the earliest of which, Kniphofia, has recently been revived by botanists. There are about sixteen species, natives of South Africa and Madagascar. The species best known in British gardens is T. aloides, better known as T. uvaria, which is quite hardy in most parts of Britain, and is one of the most brilliant of border flowers in late summer and autumn. There are four or five other species in cultivation less hardy, but hardly less showy, where they may be successfully grown. Light, rich, well-drained soil suits them best; they are propagated by division of the crowns in spring as growth commences.