as it does, flowering through the summer and autumn, it will 
probably make a good plant for bedding out. It is difficult to 
say which of the two varieties is the best. The flowers of var. a. 
are the largest, but the palest coloured: var. 8. has the smaller 
but deepest coloured blossom. Whether the purple underside 
of the leaf is peculiar to a. or occasionally common to both, I 
cannot say. 
Dezscr. Roofs, we believe, tuberous. Petioles a span and 
more long, rising directly from the root and bearing three 
deltoid or subrhomboid /eaflets, radiating as it were from a centre, 
glabrous, having obtuse angles, generally purple beneath in a, pale 
green beneath in 8. Scapes longer than the petioles, glabrous, 
terminated by an umbel of from six to nine or ten handsome 
showy flowers. Pedicels at first deflexed, at length, in flower, 
erect or spreading. Sepails five, erect, appressed, lanceolate, 
somewhat mucronato-acuminate, bearing at the apex four slender, 
linear, orange-coloured glands, which unite into one at the very 
apex. Petals broad-oval, unguiculate, spreading. The entire 
corolla is of a purple colour, more or less deep, and varying a 
little in size: in the centre is an intensely dark purple eye. 
Stamens 10: filaments glabrous, monadelphous below ; the five 
shorter ones naked, the five longer ones generally with a distinct 
large scale, but which is more or less obsolete in different flowers. 
Styles five, longer than the longest stamens, pubescent: stigmas 
dilated and umbilicated. W.J. H. 
Curr. This pretty plant represents a form common to a large 
groupe of a very extensive genus, characterized as perennial plants 
having tuberous roots. The present species, being one of that 
groupe, and coming from the elevated region of Loxa, may be 
expected to prove hardy, especially if planted in a warm border, 
the precaution being taken to cover the border with a layer of 
dry leaves, fern, or other such light material, that will act as a 
non-conductor of frost. It is necessary, however, to be careful 
that such covering does not remain on too long, for it is apt to 
stimulate the tubers into premature growth. In cultivating this 
plant in pots, a mixture of light sandy loam and leaf-mould will 
be found to suit it. The tubers should be potted after the 
leaves decay in the autumn, and the pots placed in a cold frame 
and kept rather dry during winter. When they begin to grow, 
air must be freely given, and the supply of water mcreased in 
accordance with ‘their advancing growth. No shading is re- 
quired, as the flowers of most of the ‘species only open under 
the full influence of the sun. J. 8. 
Fig. 1. Sepal. 2. Stamens and pistil :—magnified. 
