Tas. 8548. 
GLADIOLUS Masonrorvum. 
Tembuland. 
Iripackak, Tribe Ixrear. 
Guaproxus, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 709. 
Gladiolus Masoniorum, C. H. Wright in Kew Bulletin, 1913, p. 305 ; species 
_ G. sulphureo, de Graaf, affinis, lobis perianthii brevioribus spathisque 
acuminatis differt. 
Herba. Folia 5:3 dm. longa, 1 cm. lata, basi-apiceque attenuata, utrinque 
hirsuta, costa crassa, nervis marginalibus validis instructa. Racemus 
30 cm. longus, laxus, glaber ; spathae virides, herbaceae, glabrae; exterior 
lanceolata, acuminata, 3°5 cm. longa, 1°2 cm. lata, interior minor, 3 cm. 
longa. Perianthiwm cremeum, ad faucem pallide luteum, intra tubum 
viride; tubus 2 cm. longus, anguste infundibuliformis, curvatus; lobi 5 
superiores subaequales, 3 cm. longi, 2 cm. lati, obtusi, undulati; lobus 
inferior 1°5 cm. latus. Antherae cremeae. Stigmatis lobi spatulati, 
3 mm. longi, laciniati.—C. H. Wricur. 
The Gladiolus now figured was discovered in Tembu- 
land in December 1910 by Canon G. E. Mason of Umtata, 
and his sister Miss M. H. Mason, in compliment to both 
of whom it has been named. A year and a half later 
material was sent to the Cambridge Botanic Garden, 
where under the care of Mr. Lynch the plant came into 
flower not quite twelve months after the receipt of the 
corms, in the end of May 1913. From material sent by 
Mr. Lynch the present plate has been prepared. The 
perianth is of a soft creamy tint with green inside the 
lower part of the tube; the anthers are of much the 
same colour as the perianth. The section to which G. 
Masoniorum belongs is one whose species are difficult to 
discriminate. Its leading member is the widely spread 
G. Quartinianus, A. Rich., which includes many forms 
with variously coloured flowers, all of them with some- 
what hooded upper perianth-segments. The nearest 
ally within this section to G. Masoniorum is G. sulphureus, 
de Graaf, figured at t. 7791, which, however, is different 
from G. sulphureus, Jacq., now Babiana stricta, var. 
Aprit, 1914. 
