Tas. 5928, 
, XIPHION ritirouium. 
Native of Southern Spain and Marocco. , 
Nat. Ord. Irntpacez.—Tribe Inwem. 
Genus Xipuion, Tourn. ; (Tab. nost. 5890.) 
XIPHION filifolium ; foliis valde elongatis setaceo-filiformibus flexuosis scapum 
l-rarissime 2-florum longe superantibus, spathis elongatis acuminatis 
striatis margine membranaceis, perianthii violacei tubo limbum di- 
midium superante, laciniis exterioribus supra medium angustis dein 
obovato-rotundatis, disco vitta lutea azureo-limbata truncata notatis, 
interioribus obovato-lanceolatis supra medium erosis apice 2-dentatis, 
capsula obtusa acute 3-gona. 
_ Xuputon filifolium, Klatt in Linnea, vol. xxxiv. p. 571; Baker in Seem. Journ. 
Bot. (1871), vol. ix. p. 14. 
Tris filifolia, Boiss. Voy. in Esp., vol. ii. p. 602, t. 170; Willk. et Lange, 
Prodr. Fl. Hisp., vol. i. p. 142. — - 
Now that the cultivation of hardy herbaceous plants is 
coming prominently into vogue, many beautiful novelties 
will be annually added to our beds, borders, and frames, for 
many years to come, and amongst them few are more desi- 
rable than the species of Jris and Xiphion, because of their 
facility of treatment, their rapid multiplication, varieties of 
gorgeous colouring, and comparatively early season of 
flowering. 
The species of Xiphion inhabit, for the most part, dry 
exposed places in the Mediterranean region, flowering from 
March to May, a month or two before they arrive at per- 
fection in this country. X. flifolium is a native of Southern 
Spain, where it was discovered by Boissier, in sandy calcareous 
rocks on the Sierra Bermeja, at an elevation of 3000 to 
4000 feet (French) ; it probably also inhabits Marocco, where 
OCTOBER Ist, 187]. 
