Part 83

STAMINA adscendentia.

BLOSSOM, six divisions, gaping.

CHIVES ascending.

See Plate XI. Vol. I. GLAD. ROSEUS.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Gladiolus foliis lineari-lanceolatis, nervosis, glabris; floribus spicatis, secundis, albidis, maximis; laciniis tribus inferioribus maculatis; stigmatibus sub-bilobis.

Gladiolus with linearly lance-shaped, strongly nerved, smooth leaves; flowers grow in spikes all from one side of the stem, white, and very large; the three lower segments of the limb are spotted; summits nearly two-lobed.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. The Sheaths of the Empalement. 2. A Flower cut open, with the Chives attached. 3. The Seed-bud, Shaft, and Summits.

Of all the different species of so handsome a genus, no one is more desirable than this; as the root or plant is preserved with little care, and it rarely misses flowering; at the same time that the blossoms are of long duration, and not subject to injury from the weather; changing to a fine blush colour, when approaching to decay. From the Kew Catalogue we learn, that the G. Blandus was first introduced, from the Cape of Good Hope, by Mr. F. Masson in 1774. It thrives in most sorts of earth, but sandy peat seems the most proper for this, as well as most Cape bulbs. Our figure was taken from a plant in the collection of G. Hibbert, Esq. Clapham, this year, the end of May.

PLATE C.

EMBOTHRIUM SERICEUM.

Silky Embothrium.

CLASS IV. ORDER I.

TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Four Chives. One Pointal.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

CALYX nullus.

COROLLA. Petala quatuor, linearia, obliqua, apice latiore, subrotundo, concavo, staminifero; post fœcundationem revoluta.

STAMINA. Filamenta quatuor, brevissima, in singulo petala singula, vel nulla. Antheræ oblongæ, intra cavitatem petali sitæ, majusculæ.

PISTILLUM. Germen lineare, adscendens, inflexum. Stylus nullus. Stigma subrotundum, antice planum, postice concavum, magnum.

PERICARPIUM. Folliculus teres, unilocularis.

SEMINA quatuor seu quinque, ovata, compressa, margine altero membrana alata.

EMPALEMENT none.

BLOSSOM. Four petals, linear, oblique; broad ended, roundish, concave, and supporting the chive; after the bursting of the tips they are rolled back.

CHIVES. Four threads, very short, one in each petal, or none. Tips oblong, placed in the hollow end of the petal, larger.

POINTAL. Seed-bud linear, ascending, and bent. Shaft none. Summit nearly round, the forepart flat, the hinder concave, large.

SEED-VESSEL. A cylindrical pod of one cell.

SEEDS four or five, egg-shaped, flattened, having a skinny wing at one edge.