is known by the appellation of « the Cape-Coaft Lilv," and was 

 certainly fent to us fome years back by Dr. Afzelius from 

 Sierra Leone; from which colony it was alfo introduced into 

 France by the Botanift whofe name it has received in one of the 

 works above cited. Dr. Roxburgh found fpontaneous fpeci- 

 mens on the Coromandcl-Coaft; Rumph mentions it as being an 

 inhabitant of the gardens of Amboyna, where it had been re- 

 - ceived from Batavia, and there known by the name of the 

 Java-Tulip. 



Loureiro met with two varieties in China and Cochin- 

 China, and fays, that he found the bulbs anfwer the fame 

 medical purpoles as thofe of the Officinal Squill: from Com- 

 me lin we learn, that in Holland it was fuppofed to be a native 

 of Ceylon : f/3) was received by us alfo, through the means of 

 Dr. Afzelius, from the colony of Sierra Leone; where it is 

 faid to grow in the water (mod probably in fpots that are only 

 periodically inundated) and to be with great difficulty obtained, 

 owing to the jealoufy of the natives, by whom it is held in 

 fuperltitious veneration, being ufed as an amulet or charm to 

 prefcrve them in war, as well as almofl every other fpecies of 

 danger. Both varieties agree in a decided prediction for 

 low fandy fituations, as well as of water, and we accordingly 

 perceive in our ftoves, that the fize and number of flowers 

 depend much upon the greater or lefs proportion of the latter 

 element that has been fupplied during the time of their vege- 

 tation. 6 b 



In the adoption of the fpecific title of ornata in preference to 

 the older one of zeylanica, we were influenced firft by its being 

 now as univerfally eftablifhed as the other, and then by its 

 being lefs liable to miflead. 



Bulb large (fomctimcs weighing between three and four 

 pounds) oval-oblong, faftigiate and frequently partly above 

 ground. Leaves from one to three feet in length, feveral, 

 pranging in a fparfe fafcicle from the crown of the buib ; ob- 

 long-lanceolate, channelied-depreffed, (cored, waved, edged 

 with a filiform minutely and fcabroufly ciliate cartilaginous rim, 

 traverfed longitudinally by a broad thick bluntly keeled midrib, 

 narrowed, thickened, and convolute at their bafe, outermost 

 recumbent, inner narrow, upright. Scape (fometimes two) 

 piano-convex, ftraight, extrafoliaceous, one to three feet or 

 more high. Spathe rather ffiorter than tube, bivalved. Umbel 

 f ki t0 tn ' rteen -fl° u 'eied. Flowers large, fragrant, fefTile ; 

 iubhypocrateriform ; limb fubringently campamilate ; claws 

 concrete into a tube longer than this, being from four to 

 "X inches or more in length, pedtmclelike, thick, fubcylin- 

 «nca!ly trigonal, Ariel, fuetuiem, cuniculate, very (lightly 



curved, 



