lachenalian.
/ˌlaʃəˈneɪlɪə/, /ˌlaʃəˈnɑːlɪə/, U.S. /ˌlæʃəˈneɪliə/, /ˌlæʃəˈneɪljə/ Any of the small, perennial, bulbous-rooted plants of the genus Lachenalia (family Liliaceae), the members of which have thick, often spotted leaves and spikes or racemes of variously coloured tubular or bell-shaped flowers, and are native to South Africa but widely cultivated elsewhere; (in form Lachenalia) the genus itself. Also called Cape cowslip.Valid publication of the genus name: N. J. Jacquin 1787, in Nova Acta Helvetica 1 39.
ΚΠ
1787 E. Darwin Let. 25 Mar. (2007) 276 The plants are but few. I can only now find..Lachenalia.
1789 Bot. Mag. 3 82 Like most of the Cape plants, the Lachenalia requires to be sheltered in the winter.
1806 B. M'Mahon Amer. Gardener's Cal. 159 Your pots of Cape bulbs, such as Ixia's..Lachenalia's,..&c. which are now in a state of vegetation, should be kept all towards the front of the house.
1860 Mag. Hort. Sept. 425 Some of the rarer Lachenalias..often will not grow or make any leaves for four or five years together.
1923 Chambers's Jrnl. Dec. 786/2 A host of delightful, and to us strange, things—..sombre-hued babianas, and the lachenalias with their weird-spotted foliage.
1970 Guardian 9 May 9/2 It is more than 200 years since the Cape cowslip was first introduced to England... Lachenalias flower in midwinter.
2007 R. Kleynhans in N. O. Anderson Flower Breeding & Genetics xviii. 498 The best time to sow Lachenalia seed is in the autumn (March for the Southern Hemisphere).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1787