the fpathe. Segments feveral times longer than the tube, fomc- 

 times ending with a fmall point more or lefs obfolete. Branches, 

 when any, one or two flowered. Parts of Vruclification lateral 

 (i. e. inclined to one fide without being afcendent). Stamens 

 diverging, whitifh. Stigmas large, exceeding the anthers, re- 

 curved, complicate, ciliate. Stem-Bulbs one or two, (lender, 

 oblong, from the axils of the inner root-leaves. 



It varies with violet, white, blueifh, purple, and ftriped 

 flowers, alfo with flowers white on the infide and purple 

 without, with a flar at the bafe. This laft is the Sisyrinchium 

 of Commelin, above quoted, and being much taller, with 

 longer flenderer leaves, may be a diftincl fpecies ; but this with 

 grandiflora, bulbifera t and what is, perhaps, a variety of this, 

 lacera of the Linnean Herbarium, are fo nearly allied, that it 

 is difficult to define their differences. All of them are fcentlcfs. 

 This being the Ixia arijiata of Hort. Kew. it was defirable 

 to have retained a name ettabliftied upon fuch authority ; but 

 as it was fo called, under the fuppofition of being the arijiata 

 of Thunberg, which it is not, we mould by fo doing, only 

 perpetuate a miflake ; and when we come to give a figure of 

 the true arijiata of Thunberg, as we hope to do, we fhould 

 be obliged to find a new name for that, and thus increafe 

 the confufion we wifli to difpel; we feel ourfelves, therefore, 

 at liberty to adopt one of the names by which it has been 

 already defcribed : the one we have chofen has the right of 

 priority, and is at the fame time fufficiently charafteriftic. 

 De La Roche publilhed his defcription of it at Leyden in 

 1766, and it has been fince figured under the name of Ixia 

 grandiflora, by Houttuyn, in two works. 



. The Ixia arijiata of Thunberg has a reticulated bulb, 

 linear five-nerved leaves, with a prominent mid-rib and 

 thickened margin ; from five to nine flowers of a pale flefh 

 colour, one-ranked, on a rachis fcarcely flexuofe ; fpathe fub- 

 membranous, awn-toothed (not torn). Vide Tbunb. Dijf. 



_ Our plant is the purple variety of Thunb erg's Ixia but- 

 hifera(a) but his yellow variety (y) which is now deemed a 

 diftina fpecies, is more conftantly and confpicuoufty bulbi- 

 ferous, having frequently feveral bulbs at the joint of the 

 Item as well as in the axils of the lower leaves ; for this, 

 therefore, the trivial name of buibifera is properly referved. 



For the proper culture, fce p. 539. It is propagated eafilv 

 by feeds and bulbs. Flowers in May. Was introduced into 

 the Kew Garden in 1758. 



