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Watsonia Aletroides. Aletris-Like 



Watsonia. 



Chfs. and Order. 



Triandria Mo nogyni a. 



Generic Charatler. 



Spatba adpreffa. Corolla tubus 'gracilis : faux cyafhiformi- 

 cylindrica: limbus fexpartitus mbcequalis vel aequalis'. Pt'amcnta 

 tubo adnata a fauce libera. SfiiA. 3. gracilia bifida. Cap/. 

 rigido-coriacea. S'etff. oblongiufcula plurima. Gazvlcr inedil. 



, Specific Character and Synonyms. 

 WATSONIA aletroides 1 corollis fubcernuis: tubo fpatham 



lubaequante : fauce limbi laciniis brevibu:> osatis 



arqualibus fere quadruplo longiore. G. 

 ANTHOLYZA alethroides, Bin man. Fior. Cap. Prod. 1. Houit* 



Linn. PJl. Syfi. -11. 77. 

 GLADIOLUS tubulofus. jacq. Ic. rar. 2. 229 Coll. 4. 153. 

 GLADIOLUS merianus. Thunb. DiJ[. de Glad. p. 14. ;/. 12. 



Prod. 7. 

 ANTHOLYZA merianclla. Ait. Kezv. 1. p. 6j. Curtis 's Bit. 



Mag: 441. 

 ANTHOLYZA tubuloja, varietas flore variegato. Audrezvs's 



B-A. Repof. 174. . • • 



The name of Watfonia was fir ft given by Miller, in ho- 

 nour of our friend, the late Sir William Watson, and was 

 adopted by Jussieu in that invaluable work his Genera pian- 

 tarum, and will be found to form a very natural genus, fuffjclently 

 diltinft from Antholyza. This very elegant fpecies, which doe& 

 not appear to have been noticed by Willdenow, is readily 

 diftjnguifhed from every other by the diftinct. form of the corol- 

 la, which (trongly refembles fome fpecies of Aletris y Lachenalia % 

 and Aloe. The alternate fegments are interior ; the bulb is com- 

 p re fled and tunicated. It is very fubject. to vary, having in one 

 inffance a fingle fcape fix or eight inches high, with three or 

 «>ur diftant, fometimes one-ranked, flowers ; in another, a three 

 or four-branched ftem two feet high, with a terminal fpike of 

 from twenty to thirty clofely imbricated diflich flowers, and 

 adprefTed fpikelets in proportion. The fame bulb will one 

 year produce pale pink, the next deep crimfon, and the follow- 

 ing variegated or ftriped corollas, as in the figure^ always 

 •centlefs. One of thefe varieties has been already figured in 



the 



