The species is native of the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 was cultivated at Chelsea in 1731; but had been known in 

 Holland as far back as 1698. At present a very rare plant 

 in our collections. The specimen from which the drawing 

 was made grew in the greenhouse of the Comtesse de 



Vandes at Bayswater, and was produced from imported 

 seed. 



Perennial. Roots fock rising into a short thickly leaved 

 branching stem (caudex). Leaves veiy narrow, linear, not 

 very unlike those of the Crocus, in Vaillant's view, like 

 those of the Cushion Pink, roughly villous, ciliated, en- 

 tire or sometimes with, the margin broken by a few distant 

 short teeth, tapered downwards, keeled underneath by a 

 thick prominent midrib, stemclasping, broader and chan- 

 nelled at the lower part, those of the stem numerous, 

 set round at all points, imbricately crowded below, about 

 3 inches long, those of the fiowerstalJts scattered loosely 

 and gi-owing gi*adually shorter. Flowerstalks continuously 

 terminal of the arms of the stem, often reclined, from 6 

 inches to a foot long, one-flowered, roughly pubescent^ 

 angularly round, leafless to a great distance below the 

 flower, dark green. Calyx herbaceous, roughly pubescent, 

 leaflets lanceolately linear sides membranous. Corolla 

 about an inch and a half in diameter ; dish blackish ; ra}f 

 white on the inside and puiple at the foot, on the outside of 

 a purplish tawny brown : florets of the ray twice the length 

 of the calyx, marked with 4 dark lines at their backs, tri-. 

 denticulate, with a short purple glandularly wooled tube: 

 florets of the disk subpubescent, segments of the limb 



pointed and black-topped: anthers with 5 blackish mem 

 branous points: pollen orange-yellow: stigmas clavately ob-i 

 tuse, black : germens of the ray obovately oblong, trigonalj^ 

 rough: of' the disk obcordate and flatly compressed. 



