2036 



A TEXTBOOK OF THEORETICAL BOTANY 



grown in gardens. The genus is interesting because of its distribution. 

 Four species are found in Chile, four in New Zealand and one extends 

 through eastern Australia to the mountains of New Guinea. 



III. Ixioideae 



Rootstock usually a corm with a terminal leafy stem ending in a spicate 

 inflorescence. The spathes are always one-flowered and the flowers them- 

 selves are often medianly zygomorphic. 



Some eighteen genera are included in this sub-family of which the best 

 known are Ixia, Tritonia, Gladiolus and Freesia. 



There are about twenty-five species oi Ixt'a (Fig. 1975) in South Africa, 

 several of which are in cultivation under the name of Corn Lilies. They 



Fk;. 1975. — Ixia macidata. Flo-.ver^. 



produce star-shaped flowers about an inch across on stalks a foot high. The 

 foliage is slender and grasslike. The name Ixia means birdlime and refers 

 to the sticky juice possessed by some species. 



The genus Tritonia (Fig. 1976) contains about thirty species occurring 

 in South and tropical Africa. Many are cultivated and are grown under the 

 garden name of Montbretia. They produce large lax flower-spikes of red, 

 orange or yellow flowers during summer and autumn. 



The genus Antholyza (Fig. 1977) also occurs in South Africa. It con- 

 tains some twenty-five species, of which A.paniciilata, the Giant Montbretia, 

 is often grown in gardens. 



