Tas. 5555. 
SPARAXIS PULCHERRIMA. 
Most beautiful Sparaxis. 
Nat. Ord. In1tppa2.—Trianpria Monoeysta. 
Gen. Char. Perigonium corollinum superum, infundibuliforme, tubo 
brevi gracili, limbi ampli 6-partiti laciniis subequalibus stellatim patentibus 
rarius campanulatim conniventibus. Stamina 3, tubo perigonii inserta, 
adscendentia, inclusa, filamentis subulatis. Ovarium obtuse 3-gonum, 3- 
loculare ; ovula plurima, in loculorum angulo centrali 2-seriata; stylus fili- 
formis, stigmatibus 3 linearibus recurvis. Capsula membranacea, obsolete 
3-gona, subtorulosa, 3-locularis, loculicide 8-valvis. Semina plurima, sub-— 
globosa.—Herbe Capenses, rhizomate tuberoso-reticulato tunicato. Folia 
ensata, nervosa. Scapus simplex v.racemosus. Flores spicati, intra spatham 
2-valvem membranaceam inclust. Endl. 
Sparaxis pulcherrima ; scapo gracillimo elato racemoso, foliis anguste ensi- 
formibus sensim attenuato-acuminatis, ramis capillaribus elongatis de- 
vis apice floriferis, bracteis elongato-subulatis subintegerrimis, brac- 
teolis spathaceis longe acuminatis, floribus magnis purpureis, peri- 
anthio zquali campanulato. 
For the introduction of this most lovely Cape bulb, we 
are indebted to the well-known unrivalled cultivators of 
hardy and half-hardy plants, Messrs. Backhouse, of York, 
who flowered it in October of the present year. The spe- 
cimens were procured from the district between the Keis- 
kamma and Buffalo rivers, on the eastern side of South 
Africa, and grew in a rich black soil. The plant is alluded 
to in the elder Backhouse’s Missionary Narrative, p. 199. I 
have native specimens from the Albany district, Uitenhage, 
Assagaybosch, and Transvaal, all named S. pendula, which in 
habit it a good deal resembles; but the whole plant is much 
larger, the perianth campanulate, and the bracts very dif- 
ferent in shape. A more lovely and graceful plant, from its 
extremely tall and slender stems and tiers of drooping flowers, 
cannot well be imagined. 
Descr. Leaves narrow ensiform, rather thick, about one- 
JANUARY Ist, 1866. 
