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 Mor/ea Sfiralis. Spiral-Flowered 



MoRiEA. 



Triandria Monogynia. 



Generic Character. 



Cor. fubmonopctala 6-partita inaequalis : laciniis ereciis. 

 Stigmata 3 petaliformia. 



Specific Char after and Synonyms. 



MORjEA fpiralis caule compreffo articulato multifloro, 

 f'oliis enfiformibus ereciis, floribus axillaribus. 

 Linn. Suppl. 99. 



MOR^A fpiralis fcapo comprefTo articulato, foliis ere&is, flo- 

 ribus alternis fubfecundis. Sp. PI. edit. Willdenow y 

 1. 240. 'Thunberg. Dijf. No. 2. Prod. p. 10. 



As this is undoubtedly the fame plant which Thunberg 

 has called Moraa Spiralis, we rather continue the name than 

 attempt any innovation, which is at leafi: much better deferred 

 till the whole family (hall undergo a revifion. It certainly has 

 but little affinity with feveral of the other fpecies of Mor^a, 

 and Willdenow has queftioned whether it fhould not be 

 referred to Arijiea : it feems however to differ in too many 

 eftential points from the Aristea cyanca to admit of their 

 being united. 



The root is flringy, the leaves enfiform and erect ; the fcape 

 fimple, ereft, near a foot high, two-edged, jointed, (lightly 

 twilled ; the fpatha two-valved, entire ; the flowers alternate, 

 with fliort peduncles, and moftly direclcd one wav ; the corolla 

 confids of fix equal petals, which expand evenly, are white 

 within with a purple bafe and become tranfparent between the 

 veins as they decline ; when they clofe, they twift round one 

 another in a curious manner ; the ftyle is longer than the 

 flamens, and terminates in three fringed ftigmas of a bright 

 purple colour. Thunberg probably defcribed the ftigma as 

 fimple and villous, from examining it at too early a ftage before 

 it was expanded. Our figure was drawn from a fpecimen which 

 flowered in April laft at Mr. Woodford's, at Belmont-Houfe, 

 Vauxhall. It is a native of the Cape, and requires the fame 

 treatment as the Aristea cyanea. 



