a 
‘Tas. 6667. 
BABIANA xtncens. 
Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 
Nat. Ord. In1pEx.—Tribe Ix1nm. 
Genus Banrana, Ker; (Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Pl. vol. iii. p- 706, ined.) 
Bastana ringens; bulbo globoso tunicis pluribus membranaceis brunneis, foliis 
basalibus 6-8 caulis basin longe amplectentibus linearibus plicatis glabris 
rigidulis, caule piloso pedali vel sesquipedali medio rami brevi arcuato florifero 
et sub apicem altero abortivo predito, floribus densis secundis spicatis erectis, 
spathe valvis 2 magnis lanceolatis rigidulis crebre striatis apice sphacelatis, 
perianthii tubo infundibulari viridulo, limbo bilabiato splendide rubro, labio 
superiori oblongo integro longe unguiculato, labio inferiori segmentis 5, centra- 
libus oblongis unguiculatis, lateralibus minoribus lanceolatis reflexis, genitalibus 
' exsertis. 
AntTHotyza ringens, Lian. Sp. Plant. vol. i. p. 54; Miller Gard. Dict. edit. 8, 
No.1; Thunb. Fl. Capen. edit. Schultz, p- 39, non Andrews. 
Banana ringens, Ker in Konig et Sims Ann. vol. i. p. 223; Gen. Irid. p. 152; 
Lodd. Bot. Cab. t. 1006; Herbert in Bot. Reg. 1838, Misc. p- 18; Klatt in 
Linnea, vol. xxxii. p. 732; Baker in Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xvi. p- 166. 
This is one of the most curious and striking of all the 
Cape bulbs, and it is interesting historically as being one 
of the first Cape plants known to botanists. It was intro- 
duced by the Dutch in the seventeenth century, and ex- 
cellently figured and described by Commelinus in 1697 in 
his “Hortus Medicus Amstelodamensis ” (yOL 1... p. sl, 
tab. 41) under the name of “Gladiolo zthiopico similis 
planta angustifolia, caule .hirsuto, flore rubicundissimo,” 
by Gladiolus «wthiopicus what we now call Antholyza 
wthiopica being intended. It has never been grown in 
England except casually as a curiosity, and whenever intro- 
duced appears to have been soon lost. Philip Miller had it 
at Chelsea in 1759, Loddiges at Hackney from 1820 to 
1825, and in 1838 it ripened its seeds with Dean Herbert 
at Spofforth in Yorkshire in the open air, standing out of 
doors in a pot of sandy loam, after having been kept during 
the winter in a greenhouse. Of late years we have had 
JANUARY Ist, 1883, 
