Tas. 7292. 
GLADIOLUS oppositiFLoxus. 
Native of Kaffraria. 
Nat. Ord. In1pEa.—Tribe GLAaDIOLE#. 
Genus GuapioLus, Linn. ; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. iii. p. 709, 
GLaDI0LUs oppositiflorus ; cormo magno globoso tunicis exterioribus brunneis 
fibrosis, caule stricto robusto erecto 3-4-pedali, foliis ensiformibus glabris 
caulem vaginantibus venis marginibusque crassis stramineis, floribus 
perpluribus in spicam sesquipedalem dispositis, spathz valvis lanceolatis 
inequalibus viridibus, perianthii tubo anguste infundibulari bracteis 
equilongis, lobis ovatis patulis tubo brevioribus albis purpureo carinatis, 
tribus inferioribus paulo minoribus, genitalibus perianthio brevioribus. 
G. oppositiflorus, Herb. in Bot. Reg. 1842, Mise. p. 86, No. 98; Baker in 
Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xvi. p. 176; Handl. Irid. p. 218. 
I suppose this fine Gladiolus to be identical with the 
oppositiflorus of Herbert, about which so much has been 
written in connection with the garden forms of the genus. 
Herbert’s plant was never figured, and his description 1s a 
short one, but there is a specimen in the Kew ‘Herbarium, 
which was given by Herbert to Sir William Hooker from 
his garden at Spofforth, near Knaresborough, which leaves 
little room for doubt that the plant now figured is the 
same species. Herbert says of oppositiflorus, writing m 
1842 in the “ Botanical Register” :— 
“ A native of Madagascar, where it was found by Forbes, 
a young man employed some years since as collector by 
the Horticultural Society. It is also, perhaps, a native of 
Port Natal. The seeds are very like those of G. natalensis 
in form and colour, and it may be easily mixed with that 
species. The G. gandarensis of gardens is a cross between 
G. oppositiflorus and natalensis ; so also is the G. ramosus 
of the gardens between G. oppositiflorus and cardinalis or 
cardinali-blandus. ee 
Van Houtte, who first raised gandarensis, stated that it 
was a hybrid between G@. cardinalis and psittacinus, which 
is the same as natalensis. There can be little doubt that 
May Isr, 1893, 
