Tab. 5873. 

 GLADIOLUS Saundersii. 



Mr. Wilson Saunders Gladiolus. 



Nat. Ord. Iride,e. — IIexandria Monogynia. 

 Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tab. 5427.) 



Gladiolus Saundersii ; scapo 2-3-pedali, foliis elongato-ensiformibus J-f poll. 

 latis, longe acuminatis rigidis valide nervosis, spica, laxiflora, floribus 

 alternis non distichis, bracteis tubo periantliii longioribus anguste 

 lanceolatis acuminatis, perianthio decurvo, limbo latiore quam longo, 

 segmentis obovato-oblongis cuspidatis, superiore fornicato porrecto 

 lateralibusque 2 exterioribus reflexis coccineis fere concoloribus, 3 

 inferioribus reflexo-decurvis coccineis infra medium albis coccineo- 

 maculatis, antheris flavis, stigmatibus rubris gracilibus recurvis. 



A near ally of the long known G. psittacinus, Hook., of our 

 gardens (Tab. Nost. 3032), but a much more handsome plant, 

 remarkable for the vivid colour of the curiously deflexed and 

 very broad perianth. It was discovered by Mr. Cooper, when 

 collecting for W. Wilson Saunders, Esq., on the summit of 

 the Wetteberg mountain, in the Albert district of Cape 

 Colony, from whom we have a dried specimen. There is also 

 in the Hookerian Herbarium, a specimen, apparently of the 

 same species, though with more speckled flowers (judging from 

 its dried state) gathered near the "Fat river" (probably the 

 Yet river in the Orange River Republic), by Mr. Burke, when 

 collecting animals and plants for the late Earl of Derby. Both 

 these specimens are labelled in the Hookerian Herbarium 

 G. natalensis, by Mr. Klat, the author of an elaborate memoir 

 on the IrideaB in the Linnsea (v. 32, wherein the unpublished 

 name of G. natalensis Reinw. MSS., is without reason substi- 

 tuted for that of psittacinus). Though the flowers of psitta- 

 cinus and Saundersii are not easily distinguishable m a dry 

 state, the leaves are so, those of the latter species being much 

 narrower and longer, with very strong shining ribs. Our 



DECEMBER 1ST, 1870. 



