| [ 638 J 
BABIANA SPATHACEA. StTirF-LEAVED 
BABIANA, 
| RRR alates ae sleseske se leak ake ate she 
Cla/s and Order. 
TRIANDRIA Monocyntia. 
Generic Chara&er.—Vid. New. 576. 
Specific Charaéer and Synonyms. 
BABIANA /pathacea ; foliis plicatis rigidiffimis pungentibus, 
braétea {pathzformi ariftata, fpathis imbricatis fub- 
ariftatis nudis turgefcentibus, tubo longo: laciniis - 
: regulari-patentibus. G. | 3 
GLADIOLUS /pathaceus. Thunb. Diff. n. 25. prod. 9. Linn. 
: Suppl. 96. Willd. Sp. Pl. 1. 221. : 
ne 
Leaves narrow, linear-lanceolate, villofe, (thofe of old 
plants with us commonly naked, but thofe of the younger 
bulbs always pubefcent) very rigid, deeply plicate, terminating 
in an awn-like prickle, petioles long, widened at their bafes. 
Stem from four inches to near three feet high, with from two | | 
to four adpreffed branches and an upper fpathe-like bra&te or 
Cauline leaf with a very long awn ; rachis fearcely flexuofe, many- a 
~ flowered. Spathes imbricate-diftich, largifh, fomewhat mem- 
Fanous, naked, fmooth, twice fhorter than the corolla, awned- 
_ acuminate and fometimes torn. Corolla narrow-funnel-formed, 
upright: tube filiform, ftraight : fegments divided to the tube, 
-than’ which they are twice fhorter, linear-oblong, alternate 
_ Ones inclined to lanceolate, all regularly patent, turbinately 
Contratted downwards, three of them generally terminated by 
@foft mucro. Anthers incumbent, linear, above the bafe of 
the fegments, beneath the ftigmas. In fome luxuriant dried 
Native {pecimens the {pathes are pellucid and their awns fome- 
ing longer than with us. The leaft pubefcent of its family 
_ yet known to us. Found by Tuunserc at the Cape in 
Bockland and Hantum flowering during our winter months. 
‘yet, we fuppofe, only in the colleétion of Mr. Alderman 
'BBERT, at Clapham, by whom it has been lately imported __ 
with whom it flowered in June laft, moft probably forthe 
time in Europe, G. 
