in botany, a small genus of plants belonging to the natural order Liliaceae, native of tropical Asia and Africa. They are bulbous plants, the slender stems of which support themselves by tendril-like prolongations of the tips of some of the narrow generally lanceolate leaves. The flowers, which are borne in the leaf-axils at the ends of the stem, are very handsome, the six, generally narrow, petals are bent back and stand erect, and are a rich orange yellow or red in colour; the six stamens project more or less horizontally from the place of insertion of the petals. They are generally grown in cultivation as stove-plants.