insigne,” but these appear to us of insufficient value for 
generic rank, 
When in flower, the contrasted colours of the flowers, 
together with that of the surrounding leaves, make it 
highly decorative; at other times its densely caespitose 
habit and easy cultivation make it a desirable plant in a 
collection. 
Descr.—Stem short, thick, bearing several short branches. 
Leaves numerous and crowded, ensiform from an ovate 
triangular base, about one foot long, one inch wide at the 
base, almost glabrous when adult, thinly white-lepidote on 
both sides when young, margins with short, upcurved 
spines about four lines apart, the innermost bright red on 
the basal part of the upper surface. Flowers in a dense 
central sessile head about two inches in diameter. Sepals 
nearly an inch long, at first densely white-lepidote outside, 
narrowly lanceolate-acuminate. Petals blue, a little longer 
than the sepals, oblong, obtuse, erect, bearing two small 
calli near their base on the inner side. Stamens slightly 
shorter than the petals; filaments dilated below; anthers 
yellow, linear, about five lines long; pollen subglobose, 
smooth. Ovary oblong, plano-convex, hairy in the upper 
part ; style thickened below, reaching to the middle of the 
anthers ; stigmas three, short.—C. H. Wricat. 
Fig. 1, bracteole; 2, flower; 3, section of flower; 4, a petal with calli and 
bases of stamens; 5, apex of style; 6, ovule:—all enlarged. 
